style()

Apply text, paragraph, and cell formatting properties to a flextable selection in a single call.

style() applies text, paragraph, and cell formatting properties to a selection of rows and columns in one call. It bundles what the individual convenience functions do separately, using officer formatting objects.

Use style() when you need to change multiple property types (text, paragraph, cell) on the same selection in one operation. Use the individual functions (bold(), color(), align(), etc.) when you only need to change a single property.

Function signature

style(
  x,
  i = NULL,
  j = NULL,
  pr_t = NULL,
  pr_p = NULL,
  pr_c = NULL,
  part = "body"
)

Parameters

x · flextable · required

A flextable object.

i · integer | formula | logical

Row selector. Accepts integer indices, a one-sided formula (e.g., ~ col > 5), or a logical vector. NULL selects all rows in the specified part.

j · integer | character | formula

Column selector. Accepts integer indices, column names, a formula, or a logical vector. NULL selects all columns.

pr_t · fp_text | fp_text_lite

An officer::fp_text() or officer::fp_text_lite() object defining text-level formatting: font family, font size, color, bold, italic, underline, and related properties. Equivalent to combining bold(), italic(), color(), fontsize(), font(), and highlight().

pr_p · fp_par | fp_par_lite

An officer::fp_par() or officer::fp_par_lite() object defining paragraph-level formatting: text alignment, padding, line spacing, and tab stops. Equivalent to combining align(), padding(), and line_spacing().

pr_c · fp_cell

An officer::fp_cell() object defining cell-level formatting: background color, borders, and vertical alignment. Equivalent to combining bg(), border(), and valign().

part · string · default: "body"

Which part of the table to target: "body", "header", "footer", or "all".

Return value

The modified flextable object.

Examples

Apply cell and paragraph formatting to the whole table, then apply text formatting to a row/column subset:

library(officer)
def_cell <- fp_cell(border = fp_border(color = "wheat"))

def_par <- fp_par(text.align = "center")

ft <- flextable(head(mtcars))

ft <- style(ft, pr_c = def_cell, pr_p = def_par, part = "all")
ft <- style(ft, ~ drat > 3.5, ~ vs + am + gear + carb,
  pr_t = fp_text(color = "red", italic = TRUE)
)

ft

Property types reference

Argument	officer object	Equivalent convenience functions
pr_t	fp_text(), fp_text_lite()	bold(), italic(), color(), fontsize(), font(), highlight()
pr_p	fp_par(), fp_par_lite()	align(), padding(), line_spacing()
pr_c	fp_cell()	bg(), border(), valign()

See also

• bold(), italic(), color() — individual text formatting shortcuts
• fontsize(), font(), highlight() — more text shortcuts
• set_flextable_defaults() — change initial formatting for all new tables