rquarto

How can I print a wide tibble into a PDF from R using Quarto

I have a wide table that I want to print a two subtables so it fits on a printed page. The code below works nicely for HTML but it throws this error:

`data` must be a `gt_tbl` object, not a <gt_group> object.

when I try to render to PDF. Is there a fix or workaround that would let me print a wide tibble in a PDF using quarto:

---
title: "broken"
format: pdf
---

```{r}
library(tidyverse)
library(gt)

ten_wide <- tribble(
  ~a, ~b, ~c, ~d, ~e, ~f, ~g, ~h, ~i, ~j,
  "alpha", "bravo", "charlie", "delta", "echo", "foxtrot", "gulf", "hotel", "india", "juliet",
  "alpha", "bravo", "charlie", "delta", "echo", "foxtrot", "gulf", "hotel", "india", "juliet",
)

ten_wide |> 
  gt() |>
  gt_split(col_slice_at = 5)
```

The desired output (give or take zebra stripes) is a single table that is generated if you change the format: pdf to be be format: html:

enter image description here

Solution

  • [updated answer] The issue you're experiencing is because the pdf output is created using latex. For PDF rendering, you'll need an alternative approach. You can use library(kableExtra) for a custom table design like this.

    Make sure to pre-Install "kableExtra" R-Package with install.packages("kableExtra").

    ---
title: "My Table"
format: 
  pdf:
    geometry:
      - margin=1cm
    
    
---

```{r}
#| echo: false
#| warning: false
# #| layout-ncol: 2 # remove # for rendering tables in 2 columns

library(tidyverse)
library(gt)
library(kableExtra)

ten_wide <- tribble(
  ~a, ~b, ~c, ~d, ~e, ~f, ~g, ~h, ~i, ~j,
  "alpha", "bravo", "charlie", "delta", "echo", "foxtrot", "gulf", "hotel", "india", "juliet",
  "alpha", "bravo", "charlie", "delta", "echo", "foxtrot", "gulf", "hotel", "india", "juliet",
)

#gt(ten_wide[, 1:5]) 
#gt(ten_wide[, 6:10])
#gt(ten_wide)

# corrupt code
# ten_wide |> 
#   gt() |>
#   gt_split(col_slice_at = 5)

# Split table into two halves
first_half <- ten_wide[, 1:5]
second_half <- ten_wide[, 6:10]

# Render two tables with reduced width
first_half %>%
  kbl(booktabs = TRUE) %>%
  kable_styling(
    bootstrap_options = c("striped", "hover"),
    latex_options = c("HOLD_position"),
    full_width = FALSE,
    position = "center",
    htmltable_class = "table-condensed"
  ) %>%
  row_spec(0, bold = TRUE)

second_half %>%
  kbl(booktabs = TRUE) %>%
  kable_styling(
    bootstrap_options = c("striped", "hover"),
    latex_options = c("HOLD_position"),
    full_width = FALSE,
    position = "center",
    htmltable_class = "table-condensed"
  ) %>%
  row_spec(0, bold = TRUE)



```

    Which generates this required pdf:

    out