[R] apply problem

[Stephen Tucker]

?apply says

If X is not an array but has a dimension attribute, apply attempts to coerce
it to an array via as.matrix if it is two-dimensional (e.g., data frames). .
.

It would probably be easiest with a FOR-LOOP, but you could also try
something like the code below (and insert your operations in #...).

myfunc <- function(x,classOfX) {
  x <- as.data.frame(t(x))
  factvars <- which(classOfX=="factor")
  x[,factvars] <- lapply(x[,factvars],factor)
  for( i in seq(along=x) ) x[,i] <- as(x[,i],Class=classOfX[i])
  # ...
  return(x)
}
x <- data.frame(a=as.integer(1:10),b=factor(letters[1:10]),c=runif(10))
Fold <- function(f,x,L) for(e in L) x <- f(x,e)
y <- Fold(rbind,vector(),apply(x,1,myfunc,rapply(x,class)))

> rapply(x,class)
        a         b         c 
"integer"  "factor" "numeric" 
> rapply(y,class)
        a         b         c 
"integer"  "factor" "numeric" 



--- aedin culhane <aedin at jimmy.harvard.edu> wrote:

> Dear R-Help
> I am running apply on a data.frame containing factors and numeric 
> columns.  It appears to convert are columns into as.character? Does it 
> convert data.frame into matrix? Is this expected? I wish it to recognise 
> numerical columns and round numbers.  Can I use another function instead 
> of apply, or should I use a for loop in the case?
> 
>  > summary(xmat)
>         A               B             C             D
>   Min.   :  1.0   414    :  1   Stage 2:  5   Min.   :-0.075369
>   1st Qu.:113.8   422    :  1   Stage 3:  6   1st Qu.:-0.018102
>   Median :226.5   426    :  1   Stage 4:441   Median :-0.003033
>   Mean   :226.5   436    :  1                 Mean   : 0.008007
>   3rd Qu.:339.2   460    :  1                 3rd Qu.: 0.015499
>   Max.   :452.0   462    :  1                 Max.   : 0.400578
>                   (Other):446
>         E                F                G
>   Min.   :0.2345   Min.   :0.9808   Min.   :0.01558
>   1st Qu.:0.2840   1st Qu.:0.9899   1st Qu.:0.02352
>   Median :0.3265   Median :0.9965   Median :0.02966
>   Mean   :0.3690   Mean   :1.0079   Mean   :0.03580
>   3rd Qu.:0.3859   3rd Qu.:1.0129   3rd Qu.:0.03980
>   Max.   :2.0422   Max.   :1.3742   Max.   :0.20062
> 
>  > for(i in 1:7) print(class(xmat[,i]))
> [1] "integer"
> [1] "factor"
> [1] "factor"
> [1] "numeric"
> [1] "numeric"
> [1] "numeric"
> [1] "numeric"
> 
>  > apply(xmat, 2, class)
>            A           B           C           D           E           F
> "character" "character" "character" "character" "character" "character"
>            G
> "character"
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for your help
> Aedin
> 
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