Appropriate times to use cur_data() vs across() in dplyr 1.0 - r

Here is a situation where using cur_data() and across() yields the same result:
library(tidyverse)
by_cyl <- mtcars %>% group_by(cyl)
a <- summarise(by_cyl,head(cur_data(), 2))
b <- summarise(by_cyl,head(across(), 2)))
identical(a,b)
#TRUE
My question is what is the difference between these two functions? When are they interchangeable and when are they not?


I think there is some misunderstanding. across and cur_data() are not related/interchangeable because they both are for different purpose.
across is used to apply a function on multiple columns, cur_data returns the current data for a group without the grouping variable.
In the example shared when you are using across() it does nothing and returns data as it is.
For example,
library(dplyr)
mtcars %>% summarise(across())
returns the same mtcars dataset as it is because the default values in across are .cols = everything() and .fns = NULL. So it applies NULL function to all the columns.
I am not sure what output you were expecting in this case.

Related

Is it possible to use group_by in a function for more than one variable?

I created a function that aggregates the numeric values in a dataset, and I use a group_by() function to group the data first. Below is an example of what the code I wrote looks like. Is there a way I can group_by() more than one variable without having to create another input for the function?
agg <- function(data, group){ aggdata <- data %>% group_by({{group}}) %>% select_if(function(col) !is.numeric(col) & !is.integer(col)) %>% summarise_if(is.numeric, sum, na.rm = TRUE) return(aggdata)

Your code has (at least) a misplaced curly brace, and it's a bit difficult to see what you're trying to accomplish without a reproducible example and desired result.
It is possible to pass a vector of variable names to group_by(). For example, the following produces the same result as mtcars %>% group_by(cyl, gear):
my_groups <- c("cyl", "gear")
mtcars %>% group_by(!!!syms(my_groups))
Maybe you could use this syntax within your function definition.

Using the R syntax sequence operator ":" within the the sum command with more then 50 columns

i would like to index by column name within the sum command using the sequence operator.
library(dbplyr)
library(tidyverse)
df=data.frame(
X=c("A","B","C"),
X.1=c(1,2,3),X.2=c(1,2,3),X.3=c(1,2,3),X.4=c(1,2,3),X.5=c(1,2,3),X.6=c(1,2,3),X.7=c(1,2,3),X.8=c(1,2,3),X.9=c(1,2,3),X.10=c(1,2,3),
X.11=c(1,2,3),X.12=c(1,2,3),X.13=c(1,2,3),X.14=c(1,2,3),X.15=c(1,2,3),X.16=c(1,2,3),X.17=c(1,2,3),X.18=c(1,2,3),X.19=c(1,2,3),X.20=c(1,2,3),
X.21=c(1,2,3),X.22=c(1,2,3),X.23=c(1,2,3),X.24=c(1,2,3),X.25=c(1,2,3),X.26=c(1,2,3),X.27=c(1,2,3),X.28=c(1,2,3),X.29=c(1,2,3),X.30=c(1,2,3),
X.31=c(1,2,3),X.32=c(1,2,3),X.33=c(1,2,3),X.34=c(1,2,3),X.35=c(1,2,3),X.36=c(1,2,3),X.37=c(1,2,3),X.38=c(1,2,3),X.39=c(1,2,3),X.40=c(1,2,3),
X.41=c(1,2,3),X.42=c(1,2,3),X.43=c(1,2,3),X.44=c(1,2,3),X.45=c(1,2,3),X.46=c(1,2,3),X.47=c(1,2,3),X.48=c(1,2,3),X.49=c(1,2,3),X.50=c(1,2,3),
X.51=c(1,2,3),X.52=c(1,2,3),X.53=c(1,2,3),X.54=c(1,2,3),X.55=c(1,2,3),X.56=c(1,2,3))
Is there a quicker way todo this. The following provides the correct result. However, for large datasets (larger than this one ) it becomes vary laborious to deal with especially when pivot_wider is used and the columns are not created before hand (like above)
df %>% rowwise() %>% mutate(
Result_column=case_when(
X=="A"~ sum(c(X.1,X.2,X.3,X.4,X.5)),
X=="B"~ sum(c(X.4,X.5)),
X=="C" ~ sum(c( X.3, X.4, X.5, X.6, X.7, X.8, X.9, X.10, X.11, X.12, X.13, X.14, X.15, X.16,
X.17, X.18, X.19, X.20, X.21, X.22, X.23, X.24, X.25, X.26, X.27, X.28, X.29, X.30,
X.31, X.32, X.33, X.34, X.35, X.36, X.37, X.38, X.39, X.40, X.41, X.42,X.43, X.44,
X.45, X.46, X.47, X.48, X.49, X.50, X.51, X.52, X.53, X.54, X.55, X.56)))) %>% dplyr::select(Result_column)
The following is the how it would be used when using "select" syntax, which is that i would like to use. However, does not provide correct numerical solution. One can shorter the code by ~50 entries, by using a sequence operator ":".
df %>% rowwise() %>% mutate(
Result_column=case_when(
X=="A"~ sum(c(X.1:X.5)),
X=="B"~ sum(c(X.4:X.5)),
X=="C" ~ sum(c(X.3:X.56)))) %>% dplyr::select(Result_column)
below is a related question, however, not the same because what is needed is not a column that starts with "X" but rather a sequence.
Using mutate rowwise over a subset of columns
EDIT:
the provided code (below) from cnbrowlie is correct.
df %>% mutate(
Result_column=case_when(
X=="A"~ sum(c(X.1:X.5)),
X=="B"~ sum(c(X.4:X.5)),
X=="C" ~ sum(c(X.3:X.56)))) %>% dplyr::select(Result_column)

This can be done with dplyr>=1.0.0 using rowSums() (which computes the sum for a row across multiple columns) and across() (which superceded vars() as a method for specifying columns in a dataframe, allowing the use of : to select sequences of columns):
df %>% rowwise() %>% mutate(
Result_column=case_when(
X=="A"~ rowSums(across(X.1:X.5)),
X=="B"~ rowSums(across(X.4:X.5)),
X=="C" ~ rowSums(across(X.3:X.56))
)
) %>% dplyr::select(Result_column)

dplyr mutate using dynamic variable name while respecting group_by

I'm trying as per
dplyr mutate using variable columns
&
dplyr - mutate: use dynamic variable names
to use dynamic names in mutate. What I am trying to do is to normalize column data by groups subject to a minimum standard deviation. Each column has a different minimum standard deviation
e.g. (I omitted loops & map statements for convenience)
require(dplyr)
require(magrittr)
data(iris)
iris <- tbl_df(iris)
minsd <- c('Sepal.Length' = 0.8)
varname <- 'Sepal.Length'
iris %>% group_by(Species) %>% mutate(!!varname := mean(pluck(iris,varname),na.rm=T)/max(sd(pluck(iris,varname)),minsd[varname]))
I got the dynamic assignment & variable selection to work as suggested by the reference answers. But group_by() is not respected which, for me at least, is the main benefit of using dplyr here
desired answer is given by
iris %>% group_by(Species) %>% mutate(!!varname := mean(Sepal.Length,na.rm=T)/max(sd(Sepal.Length),minsd[varname]))
Is there a way around this?

I actually did not know much about pluck, so I don't know what went wrong, but I would go for this and this works:
iris %>%
group_by(Species) %>%
mutate(
!! varname :=
mean(!!as.name(varname), na.rm = T) /
max(sd(!!as.name(varname)),
minsd[varname])
)
Let me know if this isn't what you were looking for.

The other answer is obviously the best and it also solved a similar problem that I have encountered. For example, with !!as.name(), there is no need to use group_by_() (or group_by_at or arrange_() (or arrange_at()).
However, another way is to replace pluck(iris,varname) in your code with .data[[varname]]. The reason why pluck(iris,varname) does not work is that, I suppose, iris in pluck(iris,varname) is not grouped. However, .data refer to the tibble that executes mutate(), and so is grouped.
An alternative to as.name() is rlang::sym() from the rlang package.

How can you obtain the group_by value for use in passing to a function?

I am trying to use dplyr to apply a function to a data frame that is grouped using the group_by function. I am applying a function to each row of the grouped data using do(). I would like to obtain the value of the group_by variable so that I might use it in a function call.
So, effectively, I have-
tmp <-
my_data %>%
group_by(my_grouping_variable) %>%
do(my_function_call(data.frame(x = .$X, y = .$Y),
GROUP_BY_VARIABLE)
I'm sure that I could call unique and get it...
do(my_function_call(data.frame(x = .$X, y = .$Y),
unique(.$my_grouping_variable))
But, it seems clunky and would inefficiently call unique for every grouping value.
Is there a way to get the value of the group_by variable in dplyr?
I'm going to prematurely say sorry if this is a crazy easy thing to answer. I promise that I've exhaustively searched for an answer.

First, if necessary, check if it's a grouped data frame: inherits(data, "grouped_df").
If you want the subsets of data frames, you could nest the groups:
mtcars %>% group_by(cyl) %>% nest()
Usually, you won't nest within the pipe-chain, but check in your function:
your_function(.x) <- function(x) {
if(inherits(x, "grouped_df")) x <- nest(x)
}
Your function should then iterate over the list-column data with all grouped subsets. If you use a function within mutate, e.g.
mtcars %>% group_by(cyl) %>% mutate(abc = your_function_call(.x))
then note that your function directly receives the values for each group, passed as class structure. It's a bit difficult to explain, just try it out and debug your_function_call step by step...

You can use groups(), however a SE version of this does not exist so I'm unsure of its use in programming.
library(dplyr)
df <- mtcars %>% group_by(cyl, mpg)
groups(df)
[[1]]
cyl
[[2]]
mpg

summarise vs. summarise_each function in dplyr package

I am trying to summarise the value for one variable after splitting the data with group_by using dplyr package, the following code works fine and the output is listed below, but I can not substitute summarise_each with summriase even only one column need to be calculated, I wonder why?
iris %>% group_by(Species) %>% select(one_of('Sepal.Length')) %>%
summarise_each(funs(mean(.)))
or I will get the output like "S3:lazy".

summarize and summarize_each work quite differently. summarize is in fact simpler — just specify the expression directly:
iris %>%
group_by(Species) %>%
select(Sepal.Length) %>%
summarize(Sepal.Length = mean(Sepal.Length))
You can choose any name for the output column, it doesn’t need to be the same as the input.

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