Add a label above the row names in a table for publication

You are making a table for publication, and you want to add a label above the row names, to the left of the column names. In the vocabulary of the gt package, the row names are called a stub and this type of label is called a stubhead.

Step 1 - Start with a data frame that contains the values that you want to display in the arrangement that you want to display them.

Step 2 - Use gt::gt(rowname = ) to turn your data frame into an editable, professional looking table. The rowname argument isolates the row names, which creates space for a label above them.

Step 3 - Use gt::tab_stubhead() to add the label.

data %>% 
  gt(rowname = "var") %>% 
  tab_stubhead(label = "Stubhead label")

Example

store_sales describes the number of various products sold at three stores during a week. gt() returns a publication ready version of table, but we are not entirely satisfied with it.

library(gt)
store_sales %>% gt()

product	store8	store21	store44
Quaker Instant Grits 12 oz	20	12	3
Quaker Kids Choice 14.3 oz	3	7	11
Quick Quaker Oats 18 oz	55	21	53
Quick Quaker Oats 42 oz	123	18	52

We isolate the product names from the rest of the data by identifying them as row names, but this has an unintended effect: we lose the variable name product.

store_sales %>% 
  gt(rowname_col = "product") 

	store8	store21	store44
Quaker Instant Grits 12 oz	20	12	3
Quaker Kids Choice 14.3 oz	3	7	11
Quick Quaker Oats 18 oz	55	21	53
Quick Quaker Oats 42 oz	123	18	52

We replace it with a more informative stubhead label.

library(gt)
store_sales %>% 
  gt(rowname_col = "product") %>% 
  tab_stubhead(label = "Selected Products")

Selected Products	store8	store21	store44
Quaker Instant Grits 12 oz	20	12	3
Quaker Kids Choice 14.3 oz	3	7	11
Quick Quaker Oats 18 oz	55	21	53
Quick Quaker Oats 42 oz	123	18	52

Refer to stubhead labels

To refer to the stubhead label(s) in gt, use the function gt::cells_stubhead(), e.g.

tab_style(
  style = cell_text(color = "blue"),
  locations = cells_stubhead()
)

Add a label above the row names in SAS

tab_stubhead() is the equivalent of SAS’s BOX= option in the TABULATE procedure.

In SAS:

PROC TABULATE DATA = data;
  CLASS col_A col_B;
  VAR col_C;
    TABLE col_A, col_B * col_C / BOX='Stubhead label';
RUN;

In R:

data %>% 
  gt(rowname_col = "col_B") %>% 
  tab_stubhead(label = "Stubhead label")