gluestick

The goal of the gluestick package is to provide a home for a single, simple function (also named gluestick).

This gluestick() function is meant to be an almost drop-in replacement for 99.9% of the reasons I use the amazing glue package.

The idea is that you would just steal the function out of this package and use it in your own package in order to avoid having glue as a dependency.

Benefits

Single function
No dependencies
No C code
Vanilla base R code (easy to hack upon)

Limitations

There is no special handling when delimiters are repeated. This differs from glue where doubling the delimiter escpaes it.
No support for glue’s idea of data transformers
Far fewer sanity checks than glue

Installation

You can install from GitHub with:

# install.package('remotes')
remotes::install_github('coolbutuseless/gluestick')

In reality, I can’t see anyone actually wanting to install/use this package in preference to the glue package.

What I envisage is that if you want something “glue-like” to include in your own work, you can just steal the gluestick() function out of this package and include it in your own package.

Basic Usage

library(gluestick)

#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# By default, `src` data is the calling environment
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
name <- 'Mike'
gluestick("Hello {name}")

## [1] "Hello Mike"

#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# R code will be evaluated
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
gluestick("Hello {name}. Score = {1 + 2}")

## [1] "Hello Mike. Score = 3"

#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# Can pass in a list, data.frame, environment etc as the data source to 
# override the default
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
gluestick("Hello {name}", src = list(name = '#RStats'))

## [1] "Hello #RStats"

#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# Delimiters are user-definable
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
gluestick("Hello ~~!name]]?", open = "~~!", close = "]]?")

## [1] "Hello Mike"

Acknowledgements

R Core for developing and maintaining the language.
CRAN maintainers, for patiently shepherding packages onto CRAN and maintaining the repository

Introducing {gluestick} - a simple, base R, single function, glue-like string interpolator