[Tex/LaTex] Export tables from R to LaTeX

This is a very basic question but any answers would really help.

My question is are there any package or install requirements for LaTeX in order to be able to export from R to LateX?

I am asking because while I have been able to export html and text files from R, trying to export as LateX doesn't output a file at all. I am simply trying to produce nice looking tables for publication.

E.g

xtable(newobject2, type = "latex", file = "filename2.tex")

Does nothing, whereas

xtable(newobject2, type = "html", file = "filename2.htm")

Gives me the desired file output.

Do I need to install MacTex in order for this to work? I am on a Mac

Full Code for reference is below:

library(foreign)
library(xtable)
library(stargazer)
chap <- read.csv("chap2.csv", header = TRUE)
new <- chap[c("party", "galtan", "sociallifestyle", "civlib_laworder", "religious_principle", "immigrate_policy", "multiculturalism", "urban_rural", "ethnic_minorities", "deregulation", "nationalism", "econ_interven", "redistribution", "spendvtax", "corrupt_salience", "antielite_salience", "international_security", "environment")]
new2 <- new[1:243, 2:18]
fa1 <- factanal(new2, factors = 4, rotation = "varimax", sort = TRUE)
print(fa1, digits = 3, cutoff = .5, sort = TRUE)

newobject2 <- as.data.frame(unclass(fa1$loadings))
xtable(newobject2, type = "latex", file = "filename2.tex")

Best Answer

Welcome! Look at ?print.xtable. This works

print(xtable(newobject2, type = "latex"), file = "filename2.tex")

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Multiple Tables Sweave/Latex

Have a look at the xtable package, which prints LaTeX tables neatly. I have used this a lot for Sweave auto-generated reports.

The following is a toy example of printing some tables for LaTeX in a Sweave document

<<echo=FALSE,print=FALSE,results=tex>>
## generate an example set of tables                                                                                                                         
library(xtable)
data(tli)
my.tables <- list()
for(iTable in 1:20){
 my.tables[[iTable]] <- tli[1:20 + iTable,]
}

## print these out, with page breaks in between                                                                                                              
for(iTable in 1:20){
  print(xtable(my.tables[[iTable]]))
  cat('\\clearpage\n')
}
@

[Tex/LaTex] Automating LaTeX tables with specifications from R

@Alex: Regarding the spacing between tables -- I take it there's no text above, between, or below the tables, right? -- the following command (to be placed in the preamble) will get the job done:

\setlength\floatsep{2em}

You should also replace all of the \begin{center} ... \end{center} pairs with a single \centering instruction (to occur immediately before \begin{tabular}...) in order to eliminate the extra spacing that the pair of instructions inserts. Next, consider changing the [ht] placement directive with [h].

On the automatic insertion of the command \hdashline (I must confess I'm not familiar with it): I'd say that this is (i) something that you should program up in R, to print out along with the remaining contents of each table, or (ii) do a global search for \\ and replace it with \\ \hdashline, followed by a related search-and-replace for instances of clashes between \hline and hdashline.

Speaking from a purely aesthetic point of view, though, I would recommend that you not add all these extra (dashed?) horizontal lines at all, since IMHO they're not likely to enhance the readability of the tables. Moreover, you may even want to consider eliminating all of the vertical lines as well. The code below contrasts the two approaches: the first table has lots of vertical and horizontal rules, the second has very few of them. (What I've done is to reproduce a shortened version of your sample table.) The second table also uses the rule-drawing commands of the booktabs package, instead of LaTeX's \hline command, to achieve more "breathing space" between the rules and rows of text/numbers.

\documentclass[letterpaper]{article}
\usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry} 
\usepackage{booktabs,lscape}
\setlength{\floatsep}{2em}

\begin{document}
\begin{landscape}

\begin{table}[t] 
\caption{Table with lots of ``rules''} \label{tab:manyrules}
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|}
\hline & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8 & 9 & 10 & 11 & 12 \\
\hline
1 & 186.30 & 101.52 & 128.33 & 148.02 & 132.08 & 138.63 & 107.98 & 133.09 & 134.12 &   119.23 & 133.21 & 165.73 \\ \hline
2 & 104.03 & 184.67 & 184.07 & 169.27 & 117.85 & 107.67 & 169.89 & 111.93 & 185.41 &  134.30 & 198.12 & 120.83 \\ 
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\end{table}

\begin{table}[h]
\caption{A table with very few ``rules''} 
\label{tab:fewrules}
\centering
\begin{tabular}{*{14}{c}}
\midrule[\heavyrulewidth]
& 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8 & 9 & 10 & 11 & 12 \\
\midrule
1 & 186.30 & 101.52 & 128.33 & 148.02 & 132.08 & 138.63 & 107.98 & 133.09 & 134.12 &   119.23 & 133.21 & 165.73 \\
2 & 104.03 & 184.67 & 184.07 & 169.27 & 117.85 & 107.67 & 169.89 & 111.93 & 185.41 &  134.30 & 198.12 & 120.83 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

\end{landscape}
\end{document}

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Multiple Tables Sweave/Latex

[Tex/LaTex] Automating LaTeX tables with specifications from R

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