Overview

Glue offers interpreted string literals that are small, fast, and dependency-free. Glue does this by embedding R expressions in curly braces which are then evaluated and inserted into the argument string.

Usage

Variables can be passed directly into strings.
library(glue)
name <- "Fred"
glue('My name is {name}.')
#> My name is Fred.
Long strings are broken by line and concatenated together.
Named arguments are used to assign temporary variables.
glue_data() is useful with magrittr pipes.
Leading whitespace and blank lines from the first and last lines are automatically trimmed.

This lets you indent the strings naturally in code.

An additional newline can be used if you want a leading or trailing newline.
\\ at the end of a line continues it without a new line.
A literal brace is inserted by using doubled braces.
name <- "Fred"
glue("My name is {name}, not {{name}}.")
#> My name is Fred, not {name}.
Alternative delimiters can be specified with .open and .close.
one <- "1"
glue("The value of $e^{2\\pi i}$ is $<<one>>$.", .open = "<<", .close = ">>")
#> The value of $e^{2\pi i}$ is $1$.
All valid R code works in expressions, including braces and escaping.

Backslashes do need to be doubled just like in all R strings.

glue_sql() makes constructing SQL statements safe and easy

Use backticks to quote identifiers, normal strings and numbers are quoted appropriately for your backend.

library(glue)

con <- DBI::dbConnect(RSQLite::SQLite(), ":memory:")
colnames(iris) <- gsub("[.]", "_", tolower(colnames(iris)))
DBI::dbWriteTable(con, "iris", iris)
var <- "sepal_width"
tbl <- "iris"
num <- 2
val <- "setosa"
glue_sql("
  SELECT {`var`}
  FROM {`tbl`}
  WHERE {`tbl`}.sepal_length > {num}
    AND {`tbl`}.species = {val}
  ", .con = con)
#> <SQL> SELECT `sepal_width`
#> FROM `iris`
#> WHERE `iris`.sepal_length > 2
#>   AND `iris`.species = 'setosa'

# `glue_sql()` can be used in conjunction with parameterized queries using
# `DBI::dbBind()` to provide protection for SQL Injection attacks
 sql <- glue_sql("
    SELECT {`var`}
    FROM {`tbl`}
    WHERE {`tbl`}.sepal_length > ?
  ", .con = con)
query <- DBI::dbSendQuery(con, sql)
DBI::dbBind(query, list(num))
DBI::dbFetch(query, n = 4)
#>   sepal_width
#> 1         3.5
#> 2         3.0
#> 3         3.2
#> 4         3.1
DBI::dbClearResult(query)

# `glue_sql()` can be used to build up more complex queries with
# interchangeable sub queries. It returns `DBI::SQL()` objects which are
# properly protected from quoting.
sub_query <- glue_sql("
  SELECT *
  FROM {`tbl`}
  ", .con = con)

glue_sql("
  SELECT s.{`var`}
  FROM ({sub_query}) AS s
  ", .con = con)
#> <SQL> SELECT s.`sepal_width`
#> FROM (SELECT *
#> FROM `iris`) AS s

# If you want to input multiple values for use in SQL IN statements put `*`
# at the end of the value and the values will be collapsed and quoted appropriately.
glue_sql("SELECT * FROM {`tbl`} WHERE sepal_length IN ({vals*})",
  vals = 1, .con = con)
#> <SQL> SELECT * FROM `iris` WHERE sepal_length IN (1)

glue_sql("SELECT * FROM {`tbl`} WHERE sepal_length IN ({vals*})",
  vals = 1:5, .con = con)
#> <SQL> SELECT * FROM `iris` WHERE sepal_length IN (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

glue_sql("SELECT * FROM {`tbl`} WHERE species IN ({vals*})",
  vals = "setosa", .con = con)
#> <SQL> SELECT * FROM `iris` WHERE species IN ('setosa')

glue_sql("SELECT * FROM {`tbl`} WHERE species IN ({vals*})",
  vals = c("setosa", "versicolor"), .con = con)
#> <SQL> SELECT * FROM `iris` WHERE species IN ('setosa', 'versicolor')
Optionally combine strings with + 
x <- 1
y <- 3
glue("x + y") + " = {x + y}"
#> x + y = 4

Other implementations

Some other implementations of string interpolation in R (although not using identical syntax).

String templating is closely related to string interpolation, although not exactly the same concept. Some packages implementing string templating in R include.