Left and right stub columns

[rcatlord]

Is it possible to create a stub column on both sides of a table? This would be useful in situations where an additional language describes the row labels and their groupings. I currently style the last columns as a workaround (see example below) but the option to create two stub columns would be very helpful.

library(gt) ; library(tidyverse) ; library(countrycode)
#> Warning: package 'tidyverse' was built under R version 4.4.2
#> Warning: package 'dplyr' was built under R version 4.4.2

countrypops |> 
  filter(year == 2022,
         country_code_3 %in% c("DZA","BHR","COM","DJI","EGY","IRQ","JOR","KWT",
                               "LBN","LBY","MRT","MAR","OMN","PSE","QAT","SAU",
                               "SOM","SDN","SYR","TUN","ARE","YEM")) |> 
  mutate(continent_en = countrycode(country_code_3, "iso3c", "un.region.name"),
         continent_ar = ifelse(continent_en == "Africa", "أفريقيا", "آسيا")) |> 
  select(country_en = country_name, continent_en, population, country_ar = country_code_3, continent_ar) |> 
  arrange(desc(population)) |> 
  group_by(continent_en) |> 
  mutate(continent_ar = ifelse(row_number() == 1, continent_ar, "")) |> 
  ungroup() |> 
  gt(rowname_col = "country_en",
     groupname_col = "continent_en",
     row_group_as_column = TRUE) |> 
  tab_stubhead(label = "Continent") |> 
  fmt_country(columns = country_ar, locale = "ar") |> 
  fmt_number(columns = population, decimals = 1, suffixing = TRUE) |> 
  cols_label(
    population = "Population (2022)",
    country_ar = "",
    continent_ar = "قارة"
  ) |> 
  sub_missing(columns = "country_ar", missing_text = "") |> 
  tab_header(title = "Countries belonging to the League of Arab States") |> 
  tab_source_note(source_note = "Source: World Bank") |> 
  tab_options(
    column_labels.font.weight = "bold",
    stub_row_group.font.weight = "bold",
    data_row.padding = px(3)
  ) |> 
  tab_style(
    style = cell_text(weight = "bold"),
    locations = cells_body(columns = continent_ar)
  ) |> 
  tab_style(
    style = cell_borders(sides = "left", color = "#d8d4d4", weight = px(2)),
    locations = cells_body(columns = c(country_ar,continent_ar))
  ) |>
  tab_style(
    style = cell_borders(sides = "bottom", color = "#FFFFFF"),
    locations = cells_body(columns = "continent_ar")
  )

^{Created on 2025-03-10 with reprex v2.1.1}

[rich-iannone]

This is something I’ve actually been thinking about for a while but was waiting on until there was some demand.

Actually, my thought was to have either a left or right stub, where a RTL-script locale (set in the gt()) would automatically prefer the right stub (and a dedicated argument would allow for an override).

I do like the idea of having two stubs being an option though. Aside from your great example, there are many tables I’ve seen that have an abbreviated form of the row labels on the far right of the table (these are LTR-script tables I’m referring to).

This is something we’ll work on! And also, there are probably many situations where a RTL table is not properly formatted (Arabic text in the header and footer probably doesn’t run RTL automatically, as an example).

[rcatlord]

Thanks Rich. The option to have a moveable stub would be a great feature, especially for RTL languages. The need to have two stubs is more niche. Can you please share a link to a table that uses abbreviated row labels on the right? Thanks again.