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ksformat: 'SAS'-Style 'PROC FORMAT' for R

Source: R/ksformat-package.R
ksformat-package.Rd

Provides 'SAS' 'PROC FORMAT'-like functionality for creating and applying value formats in R. The package supports mapping values to labels, range-based formatting, reverse formatting (invalue), date/time/datetime formatting, and proper handling of missing values (NA, NULL, NaN).

Details

Format creation:

  • fnew — create value-to-label mappings (formats)

  • finput — create reverse mappings (label-to-value invalues)

  • fnew_bid — create both format and invalue simultaneously

  • fnew_date — create date/time/datetime formats ('SAS'-style or custom strftime patterns)

  • fparse — parse 'SAS'-like format definitions from text or file

  • fimport — import formats from a 'SAS' CNTLOUT CSV file

  • e — mark a label for expression evaluation at apply-time

Format application:

  • fput — apply a format to a vector (value to label)

  • fputn — apply a numeric format by name (like 'SAS' PUTN)

  • fputc — apply a character format by name (like 'SAS' PUTC)

  • fput_all — apply a multilabel format returning all matching labels

  • fput_df — apply formats to data frame columns

Reverse formatting:

  • finputn — apply a numeric invalue by name (like 'SAS' INPUTN)

  • finputc — apply a character invalue by name (like 'SAS' INPUTC)

Format library:

  • format_get — retrieve a format from the global library

  • fprint — list or display registered formats

  • fclear — remove one or all formats from the library

  • format_library_app — open interactive library browser (Shiny)

  • fexport — export formats to 'SAS'-like text

Utilities:

  • is_missing — check for NA, NaN, and empty strings

  • range_spec — create a range specification object

Key features:

  • Discrete and range-based numeric formatting with configurable inclusive/exclusive bounds

  • Multilabel formats — a value can match multiple labels (multilabel = TRUE in fnew, retrieved with fput_all)

  • Case-insensitive matching (ignore_case = TRUE in fnew)

  • Expression labels — labels containing .x1, .x2, etc. are evaluated at apply-time; see also e

  • Date/time/datetime formatting with built-in 'SAS' format names (auto-resolved) or custom strftime patterns

  • Global format library with auto-registration and case-insensitive name lookup

  • CNTLOUT import — read format catalogues exported from 'SAS'

Cheat sheet: run ksformat_cheatsheet() to open the HTML version in your browser, or see the files in system.file("doc", package = "ksformat").

See also

Source repository and issue tracker: https://github.com/crow16384/ksformat

Author

Maintainer: Vladimir Larchenko vladimir.larchenko@keystatsolutions.com

Authors:

Examples

# Discrete format
fnew("M" = "Male", "F" = "Female", .missing = "Unknown", name = "sex")
fput(c("M", "F", NA), "sex")
#> [1] "Male"    "Female"  "Unknown"

# Numeric range format (parsed from text)
fparse(text = '
VALUE age (numeric)
  [0, 18)  = "Child"
  [18, 65) = "Adult"
;
')
fputn(c(5, 25), "age")
#> [1] "Child" "Adult"

# Bidirectional format + invalue
fnew_bid("A" = "Active", "I" = "Inactive", name = "status")
#> $format
#> KS Format:status
#> Type: character 
#> Mappings:
#>   A => Active
#>   I => Inactive
#> 
#> $invalue
#> KS Invalue: status_inv
#> Target Type: character 
#> Mappings:
#>   Active => A
#>   Inactive => I
#> 
fputc("A", "status")
#> [1] "Active"
finputc("Active", "status_inv")
#> [1] "A"

# Multilabel format
ml <- fnew(
  "0,17,TRUE,TRUE" = "Pediatric",
  "18,Inf,TRUE,TRUE" = "Adult",
  "0,Inf,TRUE,TRUE" = "Any Age",
  name = "agegrp", type = "numeric", multilabel = TRUE
)
fput_all(c(10, 30), ml)
#> [[1]]
#> [1] "Pediatric" "Any Age"  
#> 
#> [[2]]
#> [1] "Any Age" "Adult"  
#> 

# Date format (SAS-style, auto-resolved)
fputn(Sys.Date(), "DATE9.")
#> [1] "21AUG2026"

# Export and library management
cat(fexport(sex = format_get("sex")))
#> VALUE sex (character)
#>   "M" = "Male"
#>   "F" = "Female"
#>   .missing = "Unknown"
#> ;
flist()           # character vector of registered names
#> [1] "DATE9."     "age"        "agegrp"     "sex"        "status"    
#> [6] "status_inv"
fprint()
#> Registered formats:
#>   DATE9. - VALUE (date, DATE9.), 0 mapping(s)
#>   age - VALUE (numeric), 2 mapping(s)
#>   agegrp - VALUE (numeric), 3 mapping(s)
#>   sex - VALUE (character), 2 mapping(s)
#>   status - VALUE (character), 2 mapping(s)
#>   status_inv - INVALUE (character), 2 mapping(s)
fclear()
#> All formats cleared from library.