Format a vector as currency values

With numeric values in a vector, we can perform currency-based formatting. This function supports both automatic formatting with a three-letter or numeric currency code. We can also specify a custom currency that is formatted according to the output context with the currency() helper function. We have fine control over the conversion from numeric values to currency values, where we could take advantage of the following options:

the currency: providing a currency code or common currency name will procure the correct currency symbol and number of currency subunits; we could also use the currency() helper function to specify a custom currency
currency symbol placement: the currency symbol can be placed before or after the values
decimals/subunits: choice of the number of decimal places, and a choice of the decimal symbol, and an option on whether to include or exclude the currency subunits (decimal portion)
negative values: choice of a negative sign or parentheses for values less than zero
digit grouping separators: options to enable/disable digit separators and provide a choice of separator symbol
scaling: we can choose to scale targeted values by a multiplier value
large-number suffixing: larger figures (thousands, millions, etc.) can be autoscaled and decorated with the appropriate suffixes
pattern: option to use a text pattern for decoration of the formatted currency values
locale-based formatting: providing a locale ID will result in currency formatting specific to the chosen locale

We can use the info_currencies() function for a useful reference on all of the possible inputs to the currency argument.

Usage

vec_fmt_currency(
  x,
  currency = "USD",
  use_subunits = TRUE,
  decimals = NULL,
  drop_trailing_dec_mark = TRUE,
  use_seps = TRUE,
  accounting = FALSE,
  scale_by = 1,
  suffixing = FALSE,
  pattern = "{x}",
  sep_mark = ",",
  dec_mark = ".",
  force_sign = FALSE,
  placement = "left",
  incl_space = FALSE,
  locale = NULL,
  output = c("auto", "plain", "html", "latex", "rtf", "word")
)

Arguments

x

A numeric vector.

currency

The currency to use for the numeric value. This input can be supplied as a 3-letter currency code (e.g., "USD" for U.S. Dollars, "EUR" for the Euro currency). Use info_currencies() to get an information table with all of the valid currency codes and examples of each. Alternatively, we can provide a common currency name (e.g., "dollar", "pound", "yen", etc.) to simplify the process. Use info_currencies() with the type == "symbol" option to view an information table with all of the supported currency symbol names along with examples.

We can also use the currency() helper function to specify a custom currency, where the string could vary across output contexts. For example, using currency(html = "&fnof;", default = "f") would give us a suitable glyph for the Dutch guilder in an HTML output table, and it would simply be the letter "f" in all other output contexts). Please note that decimals will default to 2 when using the currency() helper function.

If nothing is provided to currency then "USD" (U.S. dollars) will be used.

use_subunits

An option for whether the subunits portion of a currency value should be displayed. By default, this is TRUE.

decimals

An option to specify the exact number of decimal places to use. The default number of decimal places is 2.

drop_trailing_dec_mark

A logical value that determines whether decimal marks should always appear even if there are no decimal digits to display after formatting (e.g, 23 becomes 23.). The default for this is TRUE, which means that trailing decimal marks are not shown.

use_seps

An option to use digit group separators. The type of digit group separator is set by sep_mark and overridden if a locale ID is provided to locale. This setting is TRUE by default.

accounting

An option to use accounting style for values. With FALSE (the default), negative values will be shown with a minus sign. Using accounting = TRUE will put negative values in parentheses.

scale_by

A value to scale the input. The default is 1.0. All numeric values will be multiplied by this value first before undergoing formatting. This value will be ignored if using any of the suffixing options (i.e., where suffixing is not set to FALSE).

suffixing

An option to scale and apply suffixes to larger numbers (e.g., 1924000 can be transformed to 1.92M). This option can accept a logical value, where FALSE (the default) will not perform this transformation and TRUE will apply thousands (K), millions (M), billions (B), and trillions (T) suffixes after automatic value scaling. We can also specify which symbols to use for each of the value ranges by using a character vector of the preferred symbols to replace the defaults (e.g., c("k", "Ml", "Bn", "Tr")).

Including NA values in the vector will ensure that the particular range will either not be included in the transformation (e.g, c(NA, "M", "B", "T") won't modify numbers in the thousands range) or the range will inherit a previous suffix (e.g., with c("K", "M", NA, "T"), all numbers in the range of millions and billions will be in terms of millions).

Any use of suffixing (where it is not set expressly as FALSE) means that any value provided to scale_by will be ignored.

pattern

A formatting pattern that allows for decoration of the formatted value. The value itself is represented by {x} and all other characters are taken to be string literals.

sep_mark

The mark to use as a separator between groups of digits (e.g., using sep_mark = "," with 1000 would result in a formatted value of 1,000).

dec_mark

The character to use as a decimal mark (e.g., using dec_mark = "," with 0.152 would result in a formatted value of 0,152).

force_sign

Should the positive sign be shown for positive values (effectively showing a sign for all values except zero)? If so, use TRUE for this option. The default is FALSE, where only negative numbers will display a minus sign. This option is disregarded when using accounting notation with accounting = TRUE.

placement

The placement of the currency symbol. This can be either be left (the default) or right.

incl_space

An option for whether to include a space between the value and the currency symbol. The default is to not introduce a space character.

locale

An optional locale ID that can be used for formatting the value according the locale's rules. Examples include "en" for English (United States) and "fr" for French (France). The use of a valid locale ID will override any values provided in sep_mark and dec_mark. We can use the info_locales() function as a useful reference for all of the locales that are supported.

output

The output style of the resulting character vector. This can either be "auto" (the default), "plain", "html", "latex", "rtf", or "word". In knitr rendering (i.e., Quarto or R Markdown), the "auto" option will choose the correct output value

Value

A character vector.

Examples

Let's create a numeric vector for the next few examples:

num_vals <- c(5.2, 8.65, 0, -5.3, NA)

Using vec_fmt_currency() with the default options will create a character vector where the numeric values have been transformed to U.S. Dollars ("USD"). Furthermore, the rendering context will be autodetected unless specified in the output argument (here, it is of the "plain" output type).

vec_fmt_currency(num_vals)

#> [1] "$5.20" "$8.65" "$0.00" "-$5.30" "NA"

We can supply a currency code to the currency argument. Let's use British Pounds through currency = "GBP":

vec_fmt_currency(num_vals, currency = "GBP")

#> [1] "GBP5.20" "GBP8.65" "GBP0.00" "-GBP5.30" "NA"

If we are formatting for a different locale, we could supply the locale ID and let gt handle all locale-specific formatting options:

vec_fmt_currency(num_vals, currency = "EUR", locale = "fr")

#> [1] "EUR5,20" "EUR8,65" "EUR0,00" "-EUR5,30" "NA"

There are many options for formatting values. Perhaps you need to have explicit positive and negative signs? Use force_sign = TRUE for that.

vec_fmt_currency(num_vals, force_sign = TRUE)

#> [1] "+$5.20" "+$8.65" "$0.00" "-$5.30" "NA"

As a last example, one can wrap the values in a pattern with the pattern argument. Note here that NA values won't have the pattern applied.

vec_fmt_currency(num_vals, pattern = "`{x}`")

#> [1] "`$5.20`" "`$8.65`" "`$0.00`" "`-$5.30`" "NA"

Function ID

14-8

Usage

Arguments

Value

Examples

Function ID

See also