#Data df<-data.frame(id=letters[1:10],var1=rnorm(10,10,5),var2=rnorm(10,5,2),var3=rnorm(10,1,1)) #Missing df$var1[2]<-df$var2[c(2,6)]<-df$var3[c(2,5)]<-NA
na.replace<-seq(1:ncol(df))-1 df[,names(df)]<-sapply(1:dim(df)[2], function(ii) {ifelse(is.na(df[,ii]),na.replace[ii],df[,ii])} ) David Romano-2 wrote > Hi everyone, > > I have a data frame one of whose columns is a character vector and the > rest > are numeric, and in debugging a script, I noticed that an ifelse call > seems > to be coercing the character column to a numeric column, and producing > unintended values as a result. Roughly, here's what I tried to do: > > df: a data frame with, say, the first column as a character column and the > second and third columns numeric. > > also: NA's occur only in the numeric columns, and if they occur in one, > they occur in the other as well. > > I wanted to replace the NA's in column 2 with 0's and the ones in column 3 > with 1's, so first I did this: > >> na.replacements <-ifelse(col(df)==2,0,1). > > Then I used a second ifelse call to try to remove the NA's as I wanted, > first by doing this: > >> clean.df <- ifelse(is.na(df), na.replacements, df), > > which produced a list of lists vaguely resembling df, with the NA's mostly > intact, and so then I tried this: > >> clean.df <- ifelse(is.na(df), na.replacements, unlist(df)), > > which seems to work if all the columns are numeric, but otherwise changes > strings to numbers. > > I can't make sense of the help documentation enough to clear this up, but > my guess is that the "yes" and "no" values passed to ifelse need to be > vectors, in which case it seems I'll have to use another approach > entirely, > but even if is not the case and lists are acceptable, I'm not sure how to > convert a mixed-mode data frame into a vector-like list of elements (which > I would hope would work). > > I'd be grateful for any suggestions! > > Thanks, > David Romano > > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] > > ______________________________________________ > R-help@ > mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide > http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. -- View this message in context: http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/using-ifelse-to-remove-NA-s-from-specific-columns-of-a-data-frame-containing-strings-and-numbers-tp4649599p4649642.html Sent from the R help mailing list archive at Nabble.com. ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.