Mutate across multiple columns based on condition (length of unique values) - r

Question

I'm trying to create a function inside mutate() + across() that changes into factor any variable which has five or less unique values (or any arbitrary number) wit the idea of using later that factors to do some grouping. I think the logic of the function is correct but I'm getting some incorrect dimensions error (error in Spanish). For the sake of simplicity, I'm using the mtcars database.
mtcars %>%
mutate(across(1:ncol(.),
function(x) {
if_else(length(unique(x[,i]))<=5,
as.factor(x),
x)}
))
Error: Problem with `mutate()` input `..1`.
i `..1 = across(...)`.
x número incorreto de dimensiones
Run `rlang::last_error()` to see where the error occurred.
Any help or advice will be much appreciated.

Answer 1

Here we need if/else as ifelse/if_else requires all arguments to be of equal length. The length(unique expression returns a logical value of length 1 and this may break the condition. Also, with dplyr, we can use select-helpers i.e. everything() to select all the columns
library(dplyr)
out <- mtcars %>%
mutate(across(everything(),
function(x) {
if(length(unique(x))<=5)
as.factor(x) else
x}
))
-output
> str(out)
'data.frame': 32 obs. of 11 variables:
$ mpg : num 21 21 22.8 21.4 18.7 18.1 14.3 24.4 22.8 19.2 ...
$ cyl : Factor w/ 3 levels "4","6","8": 2 2 1 2 3 2 3 1 1 2 ...
$ disp: num 160 160 108 258 360 ...
$ hp : num 110 110 93 110 175 105 245 62 95 123 ...
$ drat: num 3.9 3.9 3.85 3.08 3.15 2.76 3.21 3.69 3.92 3.92 ...
$ wt : num 2.62 2.88 2.32 3.21 3.44 ...
$ qsec: num 16.5 17 18.6 19.4 17 ...
$ vs : Factor w/ 2 levels "0","1": 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 2 2 ...
$ am : Factor w/ 2 levels "0","1": 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...
$ gear: Factor w/ 3 levels "3","4","5": 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 ...
$ carb: num 4 4 1 1 2 1 4 2 2 4 ...
In addition, the lambda function can be concise with ~ and make use of n_distinct
mtcars %>%
mutate(across(everything(),
~ if(n_distinct(.x) <=5) as.factor(.x) else .x))

Answer 2

Another way would be to use a predicate function in where inside across.
We can either define a custom function:
library(dplyr)
few_unique_vals <- function(x) {
length(unique(x))<=5
}
mtcars %>%
mutate(across(where(few_unique_vals), as.factor)) %>%
glimpse # for better printing
#> Rows: 32
#> Columns: 11
#> $ mpg <dbl> 21.0, 21.0, 22.8, 21.4, 18.7, 18.1, 14.3, 24.4, 22.8, 19.2, 17.8,~
#> $ cyl <fct> 6, 6, 4, 6, 8, 6, 8, 4, 4, 6, 6, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 8,~
#> $ disp <dbl> 160.0, 160.0, 108.0, 258.0, 360.0, 225.0, 360.0, 146.7, 140.8, 16~
#> $ hp <dbl> 110, 110, 93, 110, 175, 105, 245, 62, 95, 123, 123, 180, 180, 180~
#> $ drat <dbl> 3.90, 3.90, 3.85, 3.08, 3.15, 2.76, 3.21, 3.69, 3.92, 3.92, 3.92,~
#> $ wt <dbl> 2.620, 2.875, 2.320, 3.215, 3.440, 3.460, 3.570, 3.190, 3.150, 3.~
#> $ qsec <dbl> 16.46, 17.02, 18.61, 19.44, 17.02, 20.22, 15.84, 20.00, 22.90, 18~
#> $ vs <fct> 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0,~
#> $ am <fct> 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0,~
#> $ gear <fct> 4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3,~
#> $ carb <dbl> 4, 4, 1, 1, 2, 1, 4, 2, 2, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2,~
Or we can use an anonymous purrr-style function:
mtcars %>%
mutate(across(where(~ length(unique(.x))<=5),
as.factor)) %>%
glimpse # for better printing
#> Rows: 32
#> Columns: 11
#> $ mpg <dbl> 21.0, 21.0, 22.8, 21.4, 18.7, 18.1, 14.3, 24.4, 22.8, 19.2, 17.8,~
#> $ cyl <fct> 6, 6, 4, 6, 8, 6, 8, 4, 4, 6, 6, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 8,~
#> $ disp <dbl> 160.0, 160.0, 108.0, 258.0, 360.0, 225.0, 360.0, 146.7, 140.8, 16~
#> $ hp <dbl> 110, 110, 93, 110, 175, 105, 245, 62, 95, 123, 123, 180, 180, 180~
#> $ drat <dbl> 3.90, 3.90, 3.85, 3.08, 3.15, 2.76, 3.21, 3.69, 3.92, 3.92, 3.92,~
#> $ wt <dbl> 2.620, 2.875, 2.320, 3.215, 3.440, 3.460, 3.570, 3.190, 3.150, 3.~
#> $ qsec <dbl> 16.46, 17.02, 18.61, 19.44, 17.02, 20.22, 15.84, 20.00, 22.90, 18~
#> $ vs <fct> 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0,~
#> $ am <fct> 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0,~
#> $ gear <fct> 4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3,~
#> $ carb <dbl> 4, 4, 1, 1, 2, 1, 4, 2, 2, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2,~
Created on 2022-03-15 by the reprex package (v2.0.1)