\name{reactivePrint} \alias{reactivePrint} \title{Printable Output} \usage{ reactivePrint(func) } \arguments{ \item{func}{A function that may print output and/or return a printable R object.} } \description{ Makes a reactive version of the given function that captures any printed output, and also captures its printable result (unless \code{\link{invisible}}), into a string. The resulting function is suitable for assigning to an \code{output} slot. } \details{ The corresponding HTML output tag can be anything (though \code{pre} is recommended if you need a monospace font and whitespace preserved) and should have the CSS class name \code{shiny-text-output}. The result of executing \code{func} will be printed inside a \code{\link[utils]{capture.output}} call. Note that unlike most other Shiny output functions, if the given function returns \code{NULL} then \code{NULL} will actually be visible in the output. To display nothing, make your function return \code{\link{invisible}()}. } \examples{ isolate({ # reactivePrint captures any print output, converts it to a string, and # returns it visFun <- reactivePrint(function() "foo") visFun() # '[1] "foo"' invisFun <- reactivePrint(function() invisible("foo")) invisFun() # '' multiprintFun <- reactivePrint(function() { print("foo"); "bar" }) multiprintFun() # '[1] "foo"\\n[1] "bar"' nullFun <- reactivePrint(function() NULL) nullFun() # 'NULL' invisNullFun <- reactivePrint(function() invisible(NULL)) invisNullFun() # '' vecFun <- reactivePrint(function() 1:5) vecFun() # '[1] 1 2 3 4 5' # Contrast with reactiveText, which takes the value returned from the function # and uses cat() to convert it to a string visFun <- reactiveText(function() "foo") visFun() # 'foo' invisFun <- reactiveText(function() invisible("foo")) invisFun() # 'foo' multiprintFun <- reactiveText(function() { print("foo"); "bar" }) multiprintFun() # 'bar' nullFun <- reactiveText(function() NULL) nullFun() # '' invisNullFun <- reactiveText(function() invisible(NULL)) invisNullFun() # '' vecFun <- reactiveText(function() 1:5) vecFun() # '1 2 3 4 5' }) } \seealso{ \code{\link{reactiveText}} for displaying the value returned from a function, instead of the printed output. }