R data frame to Latex table
Beni Stocker
2025-08-26
Source:vignettes/dataframe_to_latex.Rmd
dataframe_to_latex.RmdChallenge
We often want to include long table with lots of information, to be displayed in a paper. And very often, we have the contents of such a table as a data frame, e.g., in R. How do we go from an R data frame to a Latex table which can then be placed into a greater Latex manuscript file? It can be done on the fly. Here is how, using the FluxDataKit site list as an example.
In R
The FluxDataKit site list is part of the FluxDataKit R package. To avoid complicated dependencies, it is also added as a file in this repository for demo purposes.
Read the site meta info file, select and re-name columns to be displayed in table, and re-format them as desired.
df <- read_csv(here("data/fdk_site_info.csv")) |>
mutate(
lon = format(lon, digits = 2),
lat = format(lat, digits = 2),
elv = format(elv, digits = 2),
year_start = as.character(as.integer(year_start)),
year_end = as.character(as.integer(year_end))
) |>
select(
ID = sitename,
`Lon.` = lon,
`Lat.` = lat,
`Ele.` = elv,
`Start year` = year_start,
`End year` = year_end,
`Veg. type` = igbp_land_use
) |>
# for demo, include only top 30 rows
slice(1:30)Write Latex-formatted source code for table into a file using {xtable}. First, generate text.
latextable <- xtable::xtable(
df,
caption = "FluxDataKit site list.",
align = rep("l", (ncol(df) + 1)) # make all columns left-aligned
)This looks like that:
latextable## % latex table generated in R 4.5.1 by xtable 1.8-4 package
## % Tue Aug 26 07:45:42 2025
## \begin{table}[ht]
## \centering
## \begin{tabular}{llllllll}
## \hline
## & ID & Lon. & Lat. & Ele. & Start year & End year & Veg. type \\
## \hline
## 1 & AR-SLu & -66.46 & -33.5 & 500.0 & 2010 & 2010 & MF \\
## 2 & AR-TF1 & -66.73 & -55.0 & 40.0 & 2016 & 2018 & WET \\
## 3 & AT-Neu & 11.32 & 47.1 & 970.0 & 2002 & 2012 & GRA \\
## 4 & AU-ASM & 133.25 & -22.3 & 606.0 & 2011 & 2017 & SAV \\
## 5 & AU-Cow & 145.43 & -16.2 & 86.0 & 2010 & 2015 & EBF \\
## 6 & AU-Cpr & 140.59 & -34.0 & 76.0 & 2011 & 2017 & SAV \\
## 7 & AU-Ctr & 145.45 & -16.1 & 66.0 & 2010 & 2017 & EBF \\
## 8 & AU-Cum & 150.72 & -33.6 & 200.0 & 2013 & 2018 & EBF \\
## 9 & AU-DaP & 131.32 & -14.1 & 116.0 & 2009 & 2012 & GRA \\
## 10 & AU-DaS & 131.39 & -14.2 & 108.0 & 2010 & 2017 & SAV \\
## 11 & AU-Dry & 132.37 & -15.3 & 191.0 & 2011 & 2015 & SAV \\
## 12 & AU-Emr & 148.47 & -23.9 & 177.0 & 2012 & 2013 & GRA \\
## 13 & AU-GWW & 120.65 & -30.2 & 504.0 & 2013 & 2017 & SAV \\
## 14 & AU-Gin & 115.65 & -31.4 & 51.0 & 2012 & 2017 & WSA \\
## 15 & AU-How & 131.15 & -12.5 & 41.0 & 2003 & 2017 & WSA \\
## 16 & AU-Lit & 130.79 & -13.2 & 200.0 & 2016 & 2017 & WSA \\
## 17 & AU-Otw & 142.82 & -38.5 & 54.0 & 2009 & 2010 & GRA \\
## 18 & AU-Rig & 145.58 & -36.6 & 133.0 & 2011 & 2016 & GRA \\
## 19 & AU-Rob & 145.63 & -17.1 & 710.0 & 2014 & 2017 & EBF \\
## 20 & AU-Sam & 152.88 & -27.4 & 170.0 & 2011 & 2017 & GRA \\
## 21 & AU-Stp & 133.35 & -17.2 & 252.0 & 2010 & 2017 & GRA \\
## 22 & AU-TTE & 133.64 & -22.3 & 553.0 & 2013 & 2017 & GRA \\
## 23 & AU-Tum & 148.15 & -35.7 & 1200.0 & 2002 & 2017 & EBF \\
## 24 & AU-Whr & 145.03 & -36.7 & 152.0 & 2015 & 2016 & EBF \\
## 25 & AU-Wrr & 146.65 & -43.1 & 100.0 & 2016 & 2017 & EBF \\
## 26 & AU-Ync & 146.29 & -35.0 & 125.0 & 2011 & 2017 & GRA \\
## 27 & BE-Bra & 4.52 & 51.3 & 16.0 & 1996 & 2020 & MF \\
## 28 & BE-Dor & 4.97 & 50.3 & 253.0 & 2011 & 2020 & GRA \\
## 29 & BE-Lcr & 3.85 & 51.1 & 5.0 & 2019 & 2020 & DBF \\
## 30 & BE-Lon & 4.75 & 50.6 & 170.0 & 2004 & 2020 & CRO \\
## \hline
## \end{tabular}
## \caption{FluxDataKit site list.}
## \end{table}Then, write text to file.