glimpse vs str on factors

[hrbrmstr]

currently, glimpse just gives (fctr) (keeping to the "4 or less" rule) for factor columns but with str you at least have an idea of the # of levels for the factor. is it worth violating the "4 or less" rule for factors by doing something like (fctr:3) or (fctr:10) so there is slightly more info? It's an easy tweak and I could PR that + #1325 if no one is currently working on glimpse.default.

[hadley]

Hmmmm - I'd prefer to keep it short so it can also go in the row header etc.

[hrbrmstr]

possibly, then, controlled via an option with the default being the current short standard? or make it a glimpse-only behavior (I realize that wld be a tiny bit more plumbing). No worries either way, it just came up in a few conversations over the past few weeks and most recently today on SO.

[hadley]

I really hate options. Another possibility would be to come up with a shorter form: maybe <fac:3> or even <fc:3>, or even <f:3>? I suspect those are all getting a bit obscure though.

Yet another possibility would be to have another function for secondary info: could be number of factors, TZ for date times etc.

[hrbrmstr]

I like the second one. Perhaps a peruse (implying more than a glimpse) that provides just slightly more info for each type?

[hadley]

It would need to be parallel to type_sum not glimpse, so maybe type_attr_sum ?

[hadley]

I'd be happy to review a PR for this.