str_flatten() reduces a character vector to a single string. This is a
summary function because regardless of the length of the input x, it
always returns a single string.
str_flatten_comma() is a variation designed specifically for flattening
with commas. It automatically recognises if last uses the Oxford comma
and handles the special case of 2 elements.
str_flatten(string, collapse = "", last = NULL, na.rm = FALSE)
str_flatten_comma(string, last = NULL, na.rm = FALSE)Input vector. Either a character vector, or something coercible to one.
String to insert between each piece. Defaults to "".
Optional string to use in place of the final separator.
Remove missing values? If FALSE (the default), the result
will be NA if any element of string is NA.
A string, i.e. a character vector of length 1.
str_flatten(letters)
#> [1] "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
str_flatten(letters, "-")
#> [1] "a-b-c-d-e-f-g-h-i-j-k-l-m-n-o-p-q-r-s-t-u-v-w-x-y-z"
str_flatten(letters[1:3], ", ")
#> [1] "a, b, c"
# Use last to customise the last component
str_flatten(letters[1:3], ", ", " and ")
#> [1] "a, b and c"
# this almost works if you want an Oxford (aka serial) comma
str_flatten(letters[1:3], ", ", ", and ")
#> [1] "a, b, and c"
# but it will always add a comma, even when not necessary
str_flatten(letters[1:2], ", ", ", and ")
#> [1] "a, and b"
# str_flatten_comma knows how to handle the Oxford comma
str_flatten_comma(letters[1:3], ", and ")
#> [1] "a, b, and c"
str_flatten_comma(letters[1:2], ", and ")
#> [1] "a and b"