surveydata (version 0.2.7)

pattern: Returns and updates pattern attribute.

Description

The pattern attribute contains information about the separator character used to name sub-questions in the data. Survey software typically makes use of underscores to distinguish sub-questions in a grid of questions, e.g. "Q4_1", "Q4_2", "Q4_3", "Q4_other". The function pattern() returns the pattern attribute, and pattern<- updates the attribute.

Usage

pattern(x)
pattern(x) <- value

Arguments

x

surveydata object

value

New value

See Also

as.surveydata(), which.q()

Other Attribute functions: varlabels()

Examples

# Extract the pattern from membersurvey

oldptn <- pattern(membersurvey)
oldptn

# The pattern is used to extract columns

names(membersurvey)
grep("Q20", names(membersurvey), value=TRUE)

head(membersurvey["Q20"])
head(membersurvey["Q20_other"])

# Define a new pattern

pattern(membersurvey) <- list(sep="_", exclude="")
head(membersurvey["Q20"])

# Reset original pattern

pattern(membersurvey) <- oldptn
rm(oldptn)