How can I print a table in R with ascii, html, or markdown formatting?

Question

library(xtable)
library(rattle)
set.seed(42)
obs <- sample(1:nrow(weatherAUS), 5)
vars <- 2:7
xtable(weatherAUS[obs, vars])

I get the following o

Answer 1

What you get returned from xtable is pretty formatted, but as it is being in LaTeX syntax, it would be worth to run through a LaTeX compiler like pdflatex. That would return a pdf document like this:

If you want a formatted table inside the R console, so a rather human-readable version of the standard print.data.frame, you might give a try to the ascii or my pander package. Examples:

1. A basic ascii call:

   > library(ascii)
   > ascii(weatherAUS[obs, vars])
   |=================================================================================== 
   1.1+| h| Location     h| MinTemp h| MaxTemp h| Rainfall h| Evaporation h| Sunshine 
   | 60992 | Hobart       | 5.60    | 13.00   | 7.60     | 1.60        | 3.10     
   | 62476 | Launceston   | 7.40    | 13.50   | 8.80     |             |          
   | 19077 | Williamtown  | 18.30   | 29.10   | 3.20     | 1.00        | 7.00     
   | 55366 | PerthAirport | 9.80    | 21.90   | 0.00     | 3.60        | 9.80     
   | 42784 | GoldCoast    | 23.40   | 30.40   | 0.00     |             |          
   |=================================================================================== 
   

2. Calling ascii to return the table in e.g. reStructuredText format:

   > print(ascii(weatherAUS[obs, vars]), type = "rest")
   
   +-------+--------------+---------+---------+----------+-------------+----------+
   |       | Location     | MinTemp | MaxTemp | Rainfall | Evaporation | Sunshine |
   +=======+==============+=========+=========+==========+=============+==========+
   | 60992 | Hobart       | 5.60    | 13.00   | 7.60     | 1.60        | 3.10     |
   +-------+--------------+---------+---------+----------+-------------+----------+
   | 62476 | Launceston   | 7.40    | 13.50   | 8.80     |             |          |
   +-------+--------------+---------+---------+----------+-------------+----------+
   | 19077 | Williamtown  | 18.30   | 29.10   | 3.20     | 1.00        | 7.00     |
   +-------+--------------+---------+---------+----------+-------------+----------+
   | 55366 | PerthAirport | 9.80    | 21.90   | 0.00     | 3.60        | 9.80     |
   +-------+--------------+---------+---------+----------+-------------+----------+
   | 42784 | GoldCoast    | 23.40   | 30.40   | 0.00     |             |          |
   +-------+--------------+---------+---------+----------+-------------+----------+
   

3. Using pander to return the table in different markdown formats:

   > library(pander)
   > panderOptions('table.split.table', Inf)
   > pander(weatherAUS[obs, vars])
   
   --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Location    MinTemp   MaxTemp   Rainfall   Evaporation   Sunshine 
   ----------- ------------ --------- --------- ---------- ------------- ----------
    **60992**     Hobart       5.6      13.0       7.6          1.6         3.1    
   
    **62476**   Launceston     7.4      13.5       8.8                             
   
    **19077**  Williamtown    18.3      29.1       3.2          1.0         7.0    
   
    **55366**  PerthAirport    9.8      21.9       0.0          3.6         9.8    
   
    **42784**   GoldCoast     23.4      30.4       0.0                             
   --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   

4. Or in grid format:

   > pandoc.table(weatherAUS[obs, vars], style = 'grid')
   
   +-------------+--------------+-----------+-----------+------------+---------------+------------+
   |        |   Location   |  MinTemp  |  MaxTemp  |  Rainfall  |  Evaporation  |  Sunshine  |
   +=============+==============+===========+===========+============+===============+============+
   |  **60992**  |    Hobart    |    5.6    |   13.0    |    7.6     |      1.6      |    3.1     |
   +-------------+--------------+-----------+-----------+------------+---------------+------------+
   |  **62476**  |  Launceston  |    7.4    |   13.5    |    8.8     |               |            |
   +-------------+--------------+-----------+-----------+------------+---------------+------------+
   |  **19077**  | Williamtown  |   18.3    |   29.1    |    3.2     |      1.0      |    7.0     |
   +-------------+--------------+-----------+-----------+------------+---------------+------------+
   |  **55366**  | PerthAirport |    9.8    |   21.9    |    0.0     |      3.6      |    9.8     |
   +-------------+--------------+-----------+-----------+------------+---------------+------------+
   |  **42784**  |  GoldCoast   |   23.4    |   30.4    |    0.0     |               |            |
   +-------------+--------------+-----------+-----------+------------+---------------+------------+
   

5. A more simpler format:

   > pandoc.table(weatherAUS[obs, vars], style = 'simple')
   
            Location    MinTemp   MaxTemp   Rainfall   Evaporation   Sunshine 
   ----------- ------------ --------- --------- ---------- ------------- ----------
    **60992**     Hobart       5.6      13.0       7.6          1.6         3.1    
    **62476**   Launceston     7.4      13.5       8.8                             
    **19077**  Williamtown    18.3      29.1       3.2          1.0         7.0    
    **55366**  PerthAirport    9.8      21.9       0.0          3.6         9.8    
    **42784**   GoldCoast     23.4      30.4       0.0                             
   

6. Or in PHPMarkdown Extra/piped syntax to be used with knitr:

   > pandoc.table(weatherAUS[obs, vars], style = 'rmarkdown')
   
   |        |   Location   |  MinTemp  |  MaxTemp  |  Rainfall  |  Evaporation  |  Sunshine  |
   |:-----------:|:------------:|:---------:|:---------:|:----------:|:-------------:|:----------:|
   |  **60992**  |    Hobart    |    5.6    |   13.0    |    7.6     |      1.6      |    3.1     |
   |  **62476**  |  Launceston  |    7.4    |   13.5    |    8.8     |               |            |
   |  **19077**  | Williamtown  |   18.3    |   29.1    |    3.2     |      1.0      |    7.0     |
   |  **55366**  | PerthAirport |    9.8    |   21.9    |    0.0     |      3.6      |    9.8     |
   |  **42784**  |  GoldCoast   |   23.4    |   30.4    |    0.0     |               |            |