Transformers

Transformers allow you to apply functions to the glue input and output, before and after evaluation. This allows you to write things like glue_sql(), which automatically quotes variables for you or add a syntax for automatically collapsing outputs.

The transformer functions simply take two arguments text and envir, where text is the unparsed string inside the glue block and envir is the execution environment. Most transformers will then call eval(parse(text = text, keep.source = FALSE), envir) which parses and evaluates the code.

You can then supply the transformer function to glue with the .transformer argument. In this way users can manipulate the text before parsing and change the output after evaluation.

It is often useful to write a glue() wrapper function which supplies a .transformer to glue() or glue_data() and potentially has additional arguments. One important consideration when doing this is to include .envir = parent.frame() in the wrapper to ensure the evaluation environment is correct.

Some example implementations of potentially useful transformers follow. The aim right now is not to include most of these custom functions within the glue package. Rather, users are encouraged to create custom functions using transformers to fit their individual needs.

library(glue)

collapse transformer

A transformer which automatically collapses any glue block ending with *.

collapse_transformer <- function(regex = "[*]$", ...) {
  function(text, envir) {
    collapse <- grepl(regex, text)
    if (collapse) {
      text <- sub(regex, "", text)
    }
    res <- identity_transformer(text, envir)
    if (collapse) {
      glue_collapse(res, ...)  
    } else {
      res
    }
  }
}

glue("{1:5*}\n{letters[1:5]*}", .transformer = collapse_transformer(sep = ", "))
#> 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
#> a, b, c, d, e

glue("{1:5*}\n{letters[1:5]*}", .transformer = collapse_transformer(sep = ", ", last = " and "))
#> 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
#> a, b, c, d and e

x <- c("one", "two")
glue("{x}: {1:5*}", .transformer = collapse_transformer(sep = ", "))
#> one: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
#> two: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Shell quoting transformer

A transformer which automatically quotes variables for use in shell commands, e.g. via system() or system2().

shell_transformer <- function(type = c("sh", "csh", "cmd", "cmd2")) {
  type <- match.arg(type)
  function(text, envir) {
    res <- identity_transformer(text, envir)
    shQuote(res)
  }
}

glue_sh <- function(..., .envir = parent.frame(), .type = c("sh", "csh", "cmd", "cmd2")) {
  .type <- match.arg(.type)
  glue(..., .envir = .envir, .transformer = shell_transformer(.type))

}

filename <- "test"
writeLines(con = filename, "hello!")

command <- glue_sh("cat {filename}")
command
#> cat 'test'
system(command)

emoji transformer

A transformer which converts the text to the equivalent emoji.

emoji_transformer <- function(text, envir) {
  if (grepl("[*]$", text)) {
    text <- sub("[*]$", "", text)
    glue_collapse(ji_find(text)$emoji)
  } else {
    ji(text)
  }
}

glue_ji <- function(..., .envir = parent.frame()) {
  glue(..., .open = ":", .close = ":", .envir = .envir, .transformer = emoji_transformer)
}
glue_ji("one :heart:")
glue_ji("many :heart*:")

sprintf transformer

A transformer which allows succinct sprintf format strings.

sprintf_transformer <- function(text, envir) {
  m <- regexpr(":.+$", text)
  if (m != -1) {
    format <- substring(regmatches(text, m), 2)
    regmatches(text, m) <- ""
    res <- identity_transformer(text, envir)
    do.call(sprintf, list(glue("%{format}"), res))
  } else {
    identity_transformer(text, envir)
  }
}

glue_fmt <- function(..., .envir = parent.frame()) {
  glue(..., .transformer = sprintf_transformer, .envir = .envir)
}
glue_fmt("π = {pi:.3f}")
#> π = 3.142

signif transformer

A transformer generator that represents numbers with a given number of significant digits. This is useful if we want to represent all numbers using the same significant digits

signif_transformer <- function(digits = 3) {
    force(digits)
    function(text, envir) {
        x <- identity_transformer(text, envir)
        if (is.numeric(x)) {
            signif(x, digits = digits)
        } else {
            x
        }
    }
}
glue_signif <- function(..., .envir = parent.frame()) {
  glue(..., .transformer = signif_transformer(3), .envir = .envir)
}

glue_signif("π = {pi}; 10π = {10*pi}; 100π = {100*pi}")
#> π = 3.14; 10π = 31.4; 100π = 314

safely transformer

A transformer that acts like purrr::safely(), which returns a value instead of an error.

safely_transformer <- function(otherwise = NA) {
  function(text, envir) {
    tryCatch(
      identity_transformer(text, envir),
      error = function(e) if (is.language(otherwise)) eval(otherwise) else otherwise)
  }
}

glue_safely <- function(..., .otherwise = NA, .envir = parent.frame()) {
  glue(..., .transformer = safely_transformer(.otherwise), .envir = .envir)
}

# Default returns missing if there is an error
glue_safely("foo: {xyz}")
#> foo: NA

# Or an empty string
glue_safely("foo: {xyz}", .otherwise = "Error")
#> foo: Error

# Or output the error message in red
library(crayon)
glue_safely("foo: {xyz}", .otherwise = quote(glue("{red}Error: {conditionMessage(e)}{reset}")))
#> foo: Error: Failed to evaluate glue component {xyz}
#> Caused by error:
#> ! object 'xyz' not found

“Variables and Values” transformer

A transformer that expands input of the form {var_name=} into var_name = var_value, i.e. a shorthand for exposing variable names with their values. This is inspired by an f-strings feature coming in Python 3.8. It’s actually more general: you can use it with an expression input such as {expr=}.

vv_transformer <- function(text, envir) {
  regex <- "=$"
  if (!grepl(regex, text)) {
    return(identity_transformer(text, envir))
  }

  text <- sub(regex, "", text)
  res <- identity_transformer(text, envir)
  n <- length(res)
  res <- glue_collapse(res, sep = ", ")
  if (n > 1) {
    res <- c("[", res, "]")
  }
  glue_collapse(c(text, " = ", res))
}

set.seed(1234)
description <- "some random"
numbers <- sample(100, 4)
average <- mean(numbers)
sum <- sum(numbers)

glue("For {description} {numbers=}, {average=}, {sum=}.", .transformer = vv_transformer)
#> For some random numbers = [28, 80, 22, 9], average = 34.75, sum = 139.

a <- 3
b <- 5.6
glue("{a=}\n{b=}\n{a * 9 + b * 2=}", .transformer = vv_transformer)
#> a = 3
#> b = 5.6
#> a * 9 + b * 2 = 38.2