[R] Working with combinations

[David Winsemius]

On Mar 3, 2010, at 12:35 PM, Herm Walsh wrote:

> Thanks David for the thoughts.  The challenge I have with this  
> approach is that the criteria I have is defined by a series of  
> tests--which I do not think I could substitute in in place of the  
> logical indexing.
>
> In the combinations code I was hoping there is a step where, each  
> new combination is added to the current list of combinations.  If  
> this were the case, I could put my series of tests in the code right  
> there and then store the combination if appropriate.
>
> However, evalutating the code--which uses recursion--I am not sure  
> if this approach will work.  The combinations code is listed below.   
> Is there a simple place(s) where I could insert my tests, operating  
> on the current combination?
> function (n, r, v = 1:n, set = TRUE, repeats.allowed = FALSE)
> {
>     if (mode(n) != "numeric" || length(n) != 1 || n < 1 || (n%%1) !=
>         0)
>         stop("bad value of n")
>     if (mode(r) != "numeric" || length(r) != 1 || r < 1 || (r%%1) !=
>         0)
>         stop("bad value of r")
>     if (!is.atomic(v) || length(v) < n)
>         stop("v is either non-atomic or too short")
>     if ((r > n) & repeats.allowed == FALSE)
>         stop("r > n and repeats.allowed=FALSE")
>     if (set) {
>         v <- unique(sort(v))
>         if (length(v) < n)
>             stop("too few different elements")
>     }
>     v0 <- vector(mode(v), 0)
>     if (repeats.allowed)
>         sub <- function(n, r, v) {
>             if (r == 0)
>                 v0
>             else if (r == 1)
>                 matrix(v, n, 1)
>             else if (n == 1)
>                 matrix(v, 1, r)
#---new---
>             else if (combo_true)
                   Recall(n - 1, r, v[-1])
#------------
>             else rbind(cbind(v[1], Recall(n, r - 1, v)), Recall(n -
>                 1, r, v[-1]))

# this would be the point at which one would decide whether to insert  
a new combination-row.
# You could insert an else if clause above it triggered by your  
combination criteria
>         }
>     else sub <- function(n, r, v) {
>         if (r == 0)
>             v0
>         else if (r == 1)
>             matrix(v, n, 1)
>         else if (r == n)
>             matrix(v, 1, n)
>         else rbind(cbind(v[1], Recall(n - 1, r - 1, v[-1])),
>             Recall(n - 1, r, v[-1]))

*Or here....  or both

>     }
>     sub(n, r, v[1:n])
> }
> <environment: namespace:gtools>
>
>
> **************************************************************************************************************************************************************
>
> > I am working with the combinations function (available in the  
> gtools package).  However, rather than store all of the possible  
> combinations I would like to check each combination to see if it  
> meets a certain criteria.  If it does, I will then store it.
> >
> > I have looked at the combinations code but am unsure where in the  
> algorithm I would be able to operate on each combination.
>
> Logical indexing:
>
> > combinations(3,2,letters[1:3])[,1]=="a"
> [1]  TRUE  TRUE FALSE
>
> > combinations(3,2,letters[1:3])[ combinations(3,2,letters[1:3])[, 
> 1]=="a", ]
>     [,1] [,2]
> [1,] "a"  "b"
> [2,] "a"  "c"
>
> --David
>
>