How to find the appropriate print function for an object

[cderv]

@unrelated

⟹ How then, can I find the appropriate print function for a given object, e.g. rmarkdown:::print.paged_df for nibbles and print.ggplot for ggplots? (Default print() works just fine from within RStudio for Rmd files, but not when knit.)

As I explained in Interactive data frames in rmarkdown::render() like RStudio's Preview (or, printing in Rmd) - #2 by cderv usually using knitr::knit_print() would help for printing inside knitr chunk . See Custom Print Methods

Otherwise regarding your question about print.<class>, this is how methods works. You call print(object) and R will check the class to apply the right method. If object is a ggplot one, then it will call print.ggplot()

Learn more about S3 class : 13 S3 | Advanced R

@unrelated

but to do so from a child document. I am not yet quite ready to add this complexity if I don't need to.)

Not that complex when you understand how this works, and what is the logic. This is to me the safest if you need to loop through object that prints with a complex representation (Htmlwidgets, HTML tables, ...)