memisc (version 0.97)

recode: Recode Items, Factors and Numeric Vectors

Description

recode substitutes old values of a factor or a numeric vector by new ones, just like the recoding facilities in some commercial statistical packages.

Usage

## S3 method for class 'vector':
recode(x,...,otherwise="NA")
  ## S3 method for class 'factor':
recode(x,...,otherwise="NA")
  ## S3 method for class 'item':
recode(x,...,otherwise="NA")

Arguments

x

An object

...

One or more assignment expressions, each of the form new.value <- old.values. new.value should be a scalar numeric value or character string. If one of the new.values is a character string, the retur

otherwise

a character string or some other value that the result may obtain. If equal to NA or "NA", original codes not given an explicit new code are recoded into NA. If equal to "copy", original

Value

• A numerical vector, factor or an item object.

Details

recode relies on the lazy evaluation mechanism of R: Arguments are not evaluated until required by the function they are given to. recode does not cause arguments that appear in ... to be evaluated. Instead, recode parses the ... arguments. Therefore, although expressions like 1 <- 1:4 would cause an error action, if evaluated at any place elsewhere in R, they will not cause an error action, if given to recode as an argument. However, a call of the form recode(x,1=1:4), would be a syntax error.

If John Fox' package "car" is installed, recode will also be callable with the syntax of the recode function of that package.

See Also

recode of package car.

Examples

x <- as.item(sample(1:6,20,replace=TRUE),
        labels=c( a=1,
                  b=2,
                  c=3,
                  d=4,
                  e=5,
                  f=6))
print(x)

# A recoded version of x is returned
# containing the values 1, 2, 3, which are
# labelled as "A", "B", "C".
recode(x,
  A = 1 <- range(min,2),
  B = 2 <- 3:4,
  C = 3 <- range(5,max), # this last comma is ignored
  )

# This causes an error action: the sets
# of original values overlap.
try(recode(x,
  A = 1 <- range(min,2),
  B = 2 <- 2:4,
  C = 3 <- range(5,max)
  ))

recode(x,
  A = 1 <- range(min,2),
  B = 2 <- 3:4,
  C = 3 <- range(5,6),
  D = 4 <- 7
  )
  
# This results in an all-missing vector:
recode(x,
  D = 4 <- 7,
  E = 5 <- 8
  )

f <- as.factor(x)
x <- as.integer(x)

recode(x,
  1 <- range(min,2),
  2 <- 3:4,
  3 <- range(5,max)
  )

# This causes another error action:
# the third argument is an invalid
# expression for a recoding.
try(recode(x,
  1 <- range(min,2),
  3:4,
  3 <- range(5,max)
  ))

# The new values are character strings,
# therefore a factor is returned.
recode(x,
  "a" <- range(min,2),
  "b" <- 3:4,
  "c" <- range(5,6)
  )
  
recode(x,
  1 <- 1:3,
  2 <- 4:6
  )
  
recode(x,
  4 <- 7,
  5 <- 8,
  otherwise = "copy"
  )

recode(f,
  "A" <- c("a","b"),
  "B" <- c("c","d"),
  otherwise="copy"
  )

recode(f,
  "A" <- c("a","b"),
  "B" <- c("c","d"),
  otherwise="C"
  )
 
recode(f,
  "A" <- c("a","b"),
  "B" <- c("c","d")
  )