[R] R console line-wrapping

[Nick Matzke]

David Winsemius wrote:
> 
> On Sep 15, 2009, at 5:47 PM, Nick Matzke wrote:
> 
>> Hi all, a quick question I couldn't find the answer to in the usual 
>> places:
>>
>> Is there a way to turn off line-wrapping in the R console?  Or set the 
>> line width-before-wrapping manually?  Currently it looks like the 
>> console linewraps after about 70 characters, this occurs even if I 
>> increase the window size.
>>
>> (I want to output some simple tables to screen for students in a 
>> computer lab course)
> 
> ?options
> --------------
> width:
> controls the maximum number of columns on a line used in printing 
> vectors, matrices and arrays, and when filling by cat.
> Columns are normally the same as characters except in CJK languages.
> You may want to change this if you re-size the window that R is running 
> in. Valid values are 10...10000 with default normally 80. (The limits on 
> valid values are in file ‘Print.h’ and can be changed by re-compiling 
> R.) Some R consoles automatically change the value when they are resized.
> 
> ----------end help page info---------
> 
>>
>> I am running R2.9, i.e. R.app, in Mac OS X.

Hi again -- thanks for the help.  However, I can't get cat or print to 
not line wrap to the console width.  This is not a huge deal though 
since I can make my console width pretty big.

However, what is weird is the behavior I get with cat when sep=tab.  See 
below.

==============
 > getOption("width")
[1] 400
 > freqs = rep(0.25, 25)
 > print(freqs)
  [1] 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 
0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25
 > print(freqs, quote=FALSE)
  [1] 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 
0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25
 > cat(freqs)
0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 
0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25
 > cat(freqs, sep="\t")
0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25 
0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25
 > cat(freqs, sep="\t", fill=FALSE)
0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25 
0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25
 > cat(freqs, sep="\t", fill=TRUE)
0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25 
0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25
 > cat(freqs, sep="\t", fill=400)
0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25 
0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25
 >
 > # Try setting wider width
 > getOption("width")
[1] 400
 > options(width=400)
 > print(freqs)
  [1] 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 
0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25
 > print(freqs, quote=FALSE)
  [1] 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 
0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25
 > cat(freqs)
0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 
0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25
 > cat(freqs, sep="\t")
0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25 
0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25
 > cat(freqs, sep="\t", fill=FALSE)
0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25 
0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25
 > cat(freqs, sep="\t", fill=TRUE)
0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25 
0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25
 > cat(freqs, sep="\t", fill=400)
0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25 
0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25
 >
==============


If the line breaks don't translate to email, basically, these commands:
print(freqs)
print(freqs, quote=FALSE)
cat(freqs)

...don't produce line breaks until the right edge of the R console 
window, whereas these:

cat(freqs, sep="\t")
cat(freqs, sep="\t", fill=FALSE)
cat(freqs, sep="\t", fill=TRUE)
cat(freqs, sep="\t", fill=400)

...all produce line breaks after only 6 columns.


All I really want to do is print out a formatted string each time I loop 
through a for-loop, but without quotes, without the [1], and with the 
printed out columns lining up despite some columns having text, others 
numbers, and others numbers of a different size.  This must be a newbie 
question, but I can't find anything obvious in R-help.

Help appreciated!
Cheers,
Nick










>>
> 
> David Winsemius, MD
> Heritage Laboratories
> West Hartford, CT
> 
> 

-- 
====================================================
Nicholas J. Matzke
Ph.D. Candidate, Graduate Student Researcher
Huelsenbeck Lab
Center for Theoretical Evolutionary Genomics
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University of California, Berkeley

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