Count instances of overlap in two vectors in R - r

Question

I am hoping to create a matrix that shows a count of instances of overlapping values for a grouping variable based on a second variable. Specifically, I am hoping to determine the degree to which primary studies overlap across meta-analyses in order to create a network diagram.
So, in this example, I have three meta-analyses that include some portion of three primary studies.
df <- data.frame(metas = c(1,1,1,2,3,3), studies = c(1,3,2,1,2,3))
metas studies
1 1 1
2 1 3
3 1 2
4 2 1
5 3 2
6 3 3
I would like it to return:
v1 v2 v3
1 3 1 2
2 1 1 0
3 2 0 2
The value in row 1, column 1 indicates that Meta-analysis 1 had three studies in common with itself (i.e., it included three studies). Row 1, column 2 indicates that Meta-analysis 1 had one study in common with Meta-analysis 2. Row 1, column 3 indicates that Meta-analysis 1 had two studies in common with Meta-analysis 3.

Answer 1

I believe you are looking for a symmetric matrix of intersecting studies.
dfspl <- split(df$studies, df$metas)
out <- outer(seq_along(dfspl), seq_along(dfspl),
function(a, b) lengths(Map(intersect, dfspl[a], dfspl[b])))
out
# [,1] [,2] [,3]
# [1,] 3 1 2
# [2,] 1 1 0
# [3,] 2 0 2
If you need names on them, you can go with the names as defined by df$metas:
rownames(out) <- colnames(out) <- names(dfspl)
out
# 1 2 3
# 1 3 1 2
# 2 1 1 0
# 3 2 0 2
If you need the names defined as v plus the meta name, go with
rownames(out) <- colnames(out) <- paste0("v", names(dfspl))
out
# v1 v2 v3
# v1 3 1 2
# v2 1 1 0
# v3 2 0 2
If you need to understand what this is doing, outer creates an expansion of the two argument vectors, and passes them all at once to the function. For instance,
outer(seq_along(dfspl), seq_along(dfspl), function(a, b) { browser(); 1; })
# Called from: FUN(X, Y, ...)
debug at #1: [1] 1
# Browse[2]>
a
# [1] 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
# Browse[2]>
b
# [1] 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3
# Browse[2]>
What we ultimately want to do is find the intersection of each pair of studies.
dfspl[[1]]
# [1] 1 3 2
dfspl[[3]]
# [1] 2 3
intersect(dfspl[[1]], dfspl[[3]])
# [1] 3 2
length(intersect(dfspl[[1]], dfspl[[3]]))
# [1] 2
Granted, we are doing it twice (once for 1 and 3, once for 3 and 1, which is the same result), so this is a little inefficient ... it would be better to filter them to only look at the upper or lower half and transferring it to the other.
Edited for a more efficient process (only calculating each intersection pair once, and never calculating self-intersection.)
eg <- expand.grid(a = seq_along(dfspl), b = seq_along(dfspl))
eg <- eg[ eg$a < eg$b, ]
eg
# a b
# 4 1 2
# 7 1 3
# 8 2 3
lens <- lengths(Map(intersect, dfspl[eg$a], dfspl[eg$b]))
lens
# 1 1 2 ## btw, these are just names, from eg$a
# 1 2 0
out <- matrix(nrow = length(dfspl), ncol = length(dfspl))
out[ cbind(eg$a, eg$b) ] <- lens
out
# [,1] [,2] [,3]
# [1,] NA 1 2
# [2,] NA NA 0
# [3,] NA NA NA
out[ lower.tri(out) ] <- out[ upper.tri(out) ]
diag(out) <- lengths(dfspl)
out
# [,1] [,2] [,3]
# [1,] 3 1 2
# [2,] 1 1 0
# [3,] 2 0 2

Answer 2

Same idea as #r2evans, also Base R (and a bit less eloquent) (edited as required):
# Create df using sample data:
df <- data.frame(metas = c(1,1,1,2,3,3), studies = c(1,7,2,1,2,3))
# Test for equality between the values in the metas vector and the rest of
# of the values in the dataframe -- Construct symmetric matrix from vector:
m1 <- diag(v1); m1[,1] <- m1[1,] <- v1 <- rowSums(data.frame(sapply(df$metas, `==`,
unique(unlist(df)))))
# Coerce matrix to dataframe setting the names as desired; dropping non matches:
df_2 <- setNames(data.frame(m1[which(rowSums(m1) > 0), which(colSums(m1) > 0)]),
paste0("v", 1:ncol(m1[which(rowSums(m1) > 0), which(colSums(m1) > 0)])))