Example of using dput()

Using the iris dataset, which is handily included into R, we can see how dput() works:

data(iris)head(iris)  Sepal.Length Sepal.Width Petal.Length Petal.Width Species1          5.1         3.5          1.4         0.2  setosa2          4.9         3.0          1.4         0.2  setosa3          4.7         3.2          1.3         0.2  setosa4          4.6         3.1          1.5         0.2  setosa5          5.0         3.6          1.4         0.2  setosa6          5.4         3.9          1.7         0.4  setosa

Now we can get the whole dataset using dput(iris). In most situations, a whole dataset is unnecessary to provide for a Stackoverflow question, as a few lines of the relevant variables suffice as a working data example.

Two things come in handy: The head() function outputs only the first six rows of a dataframe/matrix. Also, the indexing in R (via brackets) allows you to select only specific columns.

Therefore, we can restrict the output of dput() using a combination of these two:

dput(head(iris[, c(1, 3)]))structure(list(Sepal.Length = c(5.1, 4.9, 4.7, 4.6, 5, 5.4),     Petal.Length = c(1.4, 1.4, 1.3, 1.5, 1.4, 1.7)), .Names = c("Sepal.Length", "Petal.Length"), row.names = c(NA, 6L), class = "data.frame")

will give us the code to reproduce the first (up to) six rows of column 1 and 3 of the iris dataset.

df <- structure(list(Sepal.Length = c(5.1, 4.9, 4.7, 4.6, 5, 5.4),     Petal.Length = c(1.4, 1.4, 1.3, 1.5, 1.4, 1.7)), .Names = c("Sepal.Length", "Petal.Length"), row.names = c(NA, 6L), class = "data.frame")> df  Sepal.Length Petal.Length1          5.1          1.42          4.9          1.43          4.7          1.34          4.6          1.55          5.0          1.46          5.4          1.7

If the first rows do not suffice, we can skip using head() and rely on indexing only:

dput(iris[1:20, c(1, 3)])structure(list(Sepal.Length = c(5.1, 4.9, 4.7, 4.6, 5, 5.4, 4.6, 5, 4.4, 4.9, 5.4, 4.8, 4.8, 4.3, 5.8, 5.7, 5.4, 5.1, 5.7, 5.1), Petal.Length = c(1.4, 1.4, 1.3, 1.5, 1.4, 1.7, 1.4, 1.5, 1.4, 1.5, 1.5, 1.6, 1.4, 1.1, 1.2, 1.5, 1.3, 1.4, 1.7, 1.5)), .Names = c("Sepal.Length", "Petal.Length"), row.names = c(NA, 20L), class = "data.frame")

will give us the the first twenty rows:

df <- structure(list(Sepal.Length = c(5.1, 4.9, 4.7, 4.6, 5, 5.4, 4.6, 5, 4.4, 4.9, 5.4, 4.8, 4.8, 4.3, 5.8, 5.7, 5.4, 5.1, 5.7, 5.1), Petal.Length = c(1.4, 1.4, 1.3, 1.5, 1.4, 1.7, 1.4, 1.5, 1.4, 1.5, 1.5, 1.6, 1.4, 1.1, 1.2, 1.5, 1.3, 1.4, 1.7, 1.5)), .Names = c("Sepal.Length", "Petal.Length"), row.names = c(NA, 20L), class = "data.frame")> df   Sepal.Length Petal.Length1           5.1          1.42           4.9          1.43           4.7          1.34           4.6          1.55           5.0          1.46           5.4          1.77           4.6          1.48           5.0          1.59           4.4          1.410          4.9          1.511          5.4          1.512          4.8          1.613          4.8          1.414          4.3          1.115          5.8          1.216          5.7          1.517          5.4          1.318          5.1          1.419          5.7          1.720          5.1          1.5