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Get or set cell style indices

Source: R/class-workbook-wrappers.R
wb_cell_style.Rd

The wb_get_cell_style() and wb_set_cell_style() functions provide a direct way to manage the internal style index (XF ID) of a cell. This is particularly useful for "copy-pasting" the formatting from one cell to another or for applying pre-defined styles at scale without the overhead of creating new XML nodes for every cell.

Usage

wb_get_cell_style(wb, sheet = current_sheet(), dims)

wb_set_cell_style(wb, sheet = current_sheet(), dims, style)

wb_set_cell_style_across(
  wb,
  sheet = current_sheet(),
  style,
  cols = NULL,
  rows = NULL
)

Arguments

wb

A wbWorkbook object.

sheet

The name or index of the worksheet. Defaults to the current sheet.

dims

A character string defining the cell range (e.g., "A1" or "A1:C10").

style

A style or a cell with a certain style

cols

The columns the style will be applied to, either "A:D" or 1:4

rows

The rows the style will be applied to

Value

  • For wb_get_cell_style(): A named vector where names are cell addresses (e.g., "A1") and values are the integer style indices.

  • For wb_set_cell_style(): The wbWorkbook object, invisibly.

A named vector with cell style index positions

Details

In the OpenXML format, formatting is not stored inside every cell. Instead, a workbook maintains a centralized style table, and each cell simply holds an integer index (the Cell Style ID) pointing to a record in that table.

wb_get_cell_style() retrieves these indices for a specified range. If a cell has not been explicitly styled, the function returns the index for the default style.

wb_set_cell_style() applies a specific index or style definition to a range. This is significantly faster and more memory-efficient than using high-level wrappers like wb_add_font() when applying the exact same style to thousands of individual cells.

Notes

  • These functions are the most efficient way to handle repetitive styling tasks in large worksheets.

  • If style is a character string that is not a cell dimension, it is looked up in the workbook's Style Manager.

See also

Other styles: wb_add_border(), wb_add_cell_style(), wb_add_fill(), wb_add_font(), wb_add_named_style(), wb_add_numfmt()

Examples

# set a style in B1
wb <- wb_workbook()$add_worksheet()$
  add_numfmt(dims = "B1", numfmt = "#,0")

# get style from B1 to assign it to A1
numfmt <- wb$get_cell_style(dims = "B1")

# assign style to a1
wb$set_cell_style(dims = "A1", style = numfmt)

# set style across a workbook
wb <- wb_workbook()
wb <- wb_add_worksheet(wb)
wb <- wb_add_fill(wb, dims = "C3", color = wb_color("yellow"))
wb <- wb_set_cell_style_across(wb, style = "C3", cols = "C:D", rows = 3:4)