First compare
> format(c(0.52, 0.17, 0.03, 1e-20))
[1] "5.2e-01" "1.7e-01" "3.0e-02" "1.0e-20"
> prettyNum(c(0.52, 0.17, 0.03, 1e-20))
[1] "0.52" "0.17" "0.03" "1e-20"
>
If you want to print one column at a time, that will do what you ask. If you
want to print the entire data frame, with numeric columns formatting this way
when needed, it will take more work.
Start with ?print.data.frame, which says, in part,
This calls 'format' which formats the data frame column-by-column,
then converts to a character matrix and dispatches to the 'print'
method for matrices.
Fortunately the code for print.data.frame is fairly short and simple. Looking
at it, it calls format.data.frame (also fairly short and simple), which in turn
uses format(). So there does not appear to be a built in option for the
formatting you want.
Some possible approaches:
1) create your own version of format.data.frame which uses prettyNum on numeric
columns and format on all other types. If it appears earlier in the path than
base R's format.data.frame it might be used instead.
2) create your own versions of both print.data.frame and format.data.frame,
again causing it to use prettyNum on numeric columns
3) manually convert your numeric columns to character columns using prettyNum,
then print that. Alignment will probably change, which you may not want, but at
least you'll get nicer to read numbers.
(as an aside, I'll claim that this is an example of the power of open-source
software -- if you don't like the defaults, one can make one's own version to
work however is desired -- but it does take some work)
--
Don MacQueen
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
7000 East Ave., L-627
Livermore, CA 94550
925-423-1062
Lab cell 925-724-7509
On 9/27/18, 11:53 AM, "R-help on behalf of David Winsemius"
<r-help-boun...@r-project.org on behalf of dwinsem...@comcast.net> wrote:
> On Sep 27, 2018, at 9:35 AM, David Disabato <ddisa...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi R-help,
>
> I was wondering if it was possible for a column of a dataframe to print
> some numbers in standard notation and some in scientific notation. Say my
> column of data (i.e., dat$x) has numbers between 0 and 1 with a few
numbers
> very close to 0. When using the "scipen" argument in "options," R seems to
> print all numbers of a column in scientific notation if one number in the
> column is a decimal with a starting digit smaller than the "scipen"
> argument. It is annoying that is changes ALL numbers in that column to
> scientific notation though. For example, I do want .00000000000000000001
in
> scientific notation, but I want .52 in standard form. Ideally, an example
> dataframe column would print as something like this:
>
> print(dat$x)
> .52
> .17
> .03
> 1.0e-20
>
> However, I cannot figure out how to do this. Any solutions people are
aware
> of?
Perhaps cat?
> cat(x)
0.52 0.17 0.03 1e-20
>
> --
> David J. Disabato, M.A.
> Clinical Psychology Doctoral Student
> George Mason University
> ddisa...@gmu.edu
>
> Email is not a secure form of communication as information and
> confidentiality cannot be guaranteed. Information provided in an email is
> not intended to be a professional service. In the case of a crisis or
> emergency situation, call 911.
>
> [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
> ______________________________________________
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> PLEASE do read the posting guide
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
David Winsemius
Alameda, CA, USA
'Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.'
-Gehm's Corollary to Clarke's Third Law
______________________________________________
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______________________________________________
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PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
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