labelr (version 0.1.9)

drop_name_labs: Remove Name Label Attributes from a Data Frame

Description

Remove one or more descriptive variable name label attributes previously added to a data.frame using add_name_labs.

Note: dnl is a compact alias for drop_name_labs: they do the same thing, and the former is easier to type

Usage

drop_name_labs(data, vars = NULL)
dnl(data, vars = NULL)

Value

The same data.frame you submitted, except that the selected name label attribute meta-data has been removed.

Arguments

data

the data.frame with name labels that you wish to drop (and which were added using add_name_labs).

vars

the names of the columns/variables (not the name labels) whose name labels you wish to drop. If NULL, all variables' name labels will be dropped.

Details

drop_name_labs works with add_name_labs, get_name_labs and use_name_labs to facilitate creation, accessing, substitution, and removal of variable name labels for variable names. Each variable (column) of a data.frame can receive one and only one "name label," which typically is a noun phrase that expounds the meaning or contents of the variable's name (e.g., "Weight in ounces at birth" might be a viable name label for a column called "wgt"). drop_name_labs takes a data.frame and (optionally) a character vector of variables whose name labels should be discarded: If only a data.frame is provided, all variable name labels will be dropped. You can assign new name labels using new calls to add_name_labs (If you wish to change some or all name labels, you do not need to call drop_name_labs: you can simply pass the new name labels to add_name_labs, and they will overwrite the old ones (including any automatically generated provisional ones), while leaving in place any previously added name labels that you do not explicitly replace).

Examples

# create a data set
df <- mtcars

# variable names and their labels
names_labs_vec <- c(
  "mpg" = "Miles/(US) gallon",
  "cyl" = "Number of cylinders",
  "disp" = "Displacement (cu.in.)",
  "hp" = "Gross horsepower",
  "drat" = "Rear axle ratio",
  "wt" = "Weight (1000 lbs)",
  "qsec" = "1/4 mile time",
  "vs" = "Engine (0 = V-shaped, 1 = straight)",
  "am" = "Transmission (0 = automatic, 1 = manual)",
  "gear" = "Number of forward gears",
  "carb" = "Number of carburetors"
)

# assign variable labels
df <- add_name_labs(df,
  vars = names(names_labs_vec),
  labs = names_labs_vec
)

# see what we have
get_name_labs(df)

# drop the name label for var/col "am"
df <- drop_name_labs(df, "am")

# see what this did to the name label for "am"
get_name_labs(df)

# now, drop all of the name labels
df <- drop_name_labs(df)
get_name_labs(df) # they're gone