Cat for Output

Part of the Fundamentals section of Coddy's R journey — lesson 27 of 78.

The cat() function gives you cleaner output compared to print(). While print() adds quotes around strings and shows index numbers, cat() displays text exactly as you want it to appear.

cat("Hello, World!")

This outputs Hello, World! without any quotes or index markers.

The name "cat" comes from "concatenate," meaning it can join multiple items together in a single output:

cat("Hello", "World")  # Output: Hello World

Notice that cat() automatically adds a space between items. One important difference from print() is that cat() doesn't automatically move to a new line. To create a line break, use \n:

cat("Line one\n")
cat("Line two")

This outputs:

Line one
Line two

The \n is called a newline character. You'll use cat() frequently when you want precise control over how your output looks.

Challenge

Easy

Use the cat() function to display a formatted message across multiple lines.

You are provided with the following variables:

product <- "Laptop"
price <- 999
in_stock <- TRUE

Use cat() to display the following output exactly as shown, with each piece of information on its own line:

Product: Laptop
Price: 999
Available: TRUE

Remember to use \n to create line breaks and that cat() automatically adds spaces between items.

Cheat sheet

The cat() function displays text without quotes or index markers, providing cleaner output than print():

cat("Hello, World!")

The function can concatenate multiple items, automatically adding spaces between them:

cat("Hello", "World")  # Output: Hello World

To create line breaks, use the newline character \n:

cat("Line one\n")
cat("Line two")
# Output:
# Line one
# Line two

Try it yourself

# Variables are already defined for you
product <- "Laptop"
price <- 999
in_stock <- TRUE

# TODO: Use cat() to display the formatted message with each piece of information on its own line
# Remember to use \n for line breaks