# Pgfplotstable - Using conditional statement in assign column name

I'm currently loading a table via '\pgfplotstabletypeset and I found out that I can manipulate the header like this:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgfplotstable}
\usepackage{filecontents}

\begin{filecontents*}{data.csv}
a b c d
1 4 5 1
2 3 1 5
3 5 6 1
4 1 4 9
5 3 4 7
\end{filecontents*}

\begin{document}
\pgfplotstabletypeset[
assign column name/.style= {%
/pgfplots/table/column name={#1 $\left[\frac{1}{\textrm{s}}\right]$}
},
] {data.csv}
\end{document}


Now I have come to a point where I only want to change the column names of columns > 0 (so the first one should stay just the way it is). However all my attempts to create a conditional statement that uses \pgfplotstablecol in order to retrieve the column index have failed.

What I want is something like this: \documentclass{article} \usepackage{pgfplotstable} \usepackage{filecontents}

\begin{filecontents*}{data.csv}
a b c d
1 4 5 1
2 3 1 5
3 5 6 1
4 1 4 9
5 3 4 7
\end{filecontents*}

\begin{document}
\pgfplotstabletypeset[
assign column name/.style= {%
if first column -> /pgfplots/table/column name={#1}
else -> /pgfplots/table/column name={#1 $\left[\frac{1}{\textrm{s}}\right]$}
},
] {data.csv}
\end{document}


What is the proper way to tackle this problem?

• You could use a counter which you increase globally in each header cell, and check the counter's state to decide whether the changes should apply or not. That's all I'll help as long as you don't post a minimal working example (MWE). – Skillmon Dec 2 '17 at 13:52
• As far as I have seen it shouldn't be necessary to use a custom counter as there is \pgfplotstablecol that already does keep the current column number... – Raven Dec 2 '17 at 14:41
• I don't find a possibility how \pgfplotstablecol should work in this context (the documentation isn't using it like it would be necessary and I can't get it to work...) – Skillmon Dec 2 '17 at 15:54

Using an own counter the solution is rather simple:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgfplotstable}
\usepackage{filecontents}

\begin{filecontents*}{data.csv}
a b c d
1 4 5 1
2 3 1 5
3 5 6 1
4 1 4 9
5 3 4 7
\end{filecontents*}

\newcount\Ravenfoo

\begin{document}
\pgfplotstabletypeset[
assign column name/.style = {%
/pgfplots/table/column name = {
\ifnum\Ravenfoo>0%
#1 $\left[\frac{1}{\textrm{s}}\right]$
\else

• It is a counter, but since it is only needed to detect the first column, there is no reason to increase it further. You might change the \ifnum\Ravenfoo>0 to >3 and it'll still work out. Remember to set the counter back to 0 if you use it more than once (Ravenfoo=1\relax`). I don't think using a pure Boolean variable gives any advances here, though, for versatility. You could as well use one for only this use case though. – Skillmon Dec 2 '17 at 17:37