[R] Getting the most recent dates in a new column from dates in four columns using the dplyr package (mutate verb)

David Winsemius dwinsemius at comcast.net
Thu Dec 4 19:14:10 CET 2014


On Dec 3, 2014, at 7:43 PM, Muhuri, Pradip (SAMHSA/CBHSQ) wrote:

> Hello Chel and David,
> 
> Thank you very much for providing new insights into this issue.  Here is one more question.  Why  does the mutate () give incorrect results here? 
> 
> # The following gives INCORRECT results - mutated()ed object
> na.date.cases = ifelse(!is.na(oiddate),1,0)
> 
> # The following gives CORRECT results
> new2$na.date.cases = ifelse(!is.na(new2$oiddate),1,0)
> 
> ###############################  reproducible example - slightly revised/modified  ###############
> library(dplyr)
> # data object - description 
> 
> temp <- "id  mrjdate cocdate inhdate haldate
> 1     2004-11-04 2008-07-18 2005-07-07 2007-11-07
> 2             NA         NA         NA         NA     
> 3     2009-10-24         NA 2011-10-13         NA
> 4     2007-10-10         NA         NA         NA
> 5     2006-09-01 2005-08-10         NA         NA
> 6     2007-09-04 2011-10-05         NA         NA
> 7     2005-10-25         NA         NA 2011-11-04"
> 
> # read the data object
> 
> example.data <- read.table(textConnection(temp), 
>                    colClasses=c("character", "Date", "Date", "Date", "Date"),  
>                    header=TRUE, as.is=TRUE
>                    )
> 
> 
> # create a new column -dplyr solution (Acknowledgement: Arun)
> 
> new1 <- example.data %>% 
>     rowwise() %>%
>      mutate(oiddate=as.Date(max(mrjdate,cocdate, inhdate, haldate, na.rm=TRUE), origin='1970-01-01'),
>             na.date.cases = ifelse(!is.na(oiddate),1,0)
>             )
> 

It would have been polite to include the warning printed to the console after this line of code. It seems to me that this highlights the fact that you used different logic in the two methods and got, therefore, different answers.

-- 
David.
> # create a new column - Base R solution (Acknowlegement: Mark Sharp)
> 
> new2 <- example.data
> new2$oiddate <- as.Date(sapply(seq_along(new2$id), function(row) {
>  if (all(is.na(unlist(example.data[row, c('mrjdate','cocdate', 'inhdate', 'haldate')])))) {
>    max_d <- NA
>  } else {
>    max_d <- max(unlist(example.data[row, c('mrjdate','cocdate', 'inhdate', 'haldate')]), na.rm = TRUE)
>  }
>  max_d}),
>  origin = "1970-01-01")
> 
> new2$na.date.cases = ifelse(!is.na(new2$oiddate),1,0)
> 
> 
> identical(new1, new2) 
> 
> table(new1$oiddate)
> table(new2$oiddate)
> 
> # print records
> 
> print (new1); print(new2)
> 
> Pradip K. Muhuri, PhD
> SAMHSA/CBHSQ
> 1 Choke Cherry Road, Room 2-1071
> Rockville, MD 20857
> Tel: 240-276-1070
> Fax: 240-276-1260
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chel Hee Lee [mailto:chl948 at mail.usask.ca] 
> Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2014 8:48 PM
> To: Muhuri, Pradip (SAMHSA/CBHSQ); r-help at r-project.org
> Subject: Re: [R] Getting the most recent dates in a new column from dates in four columns using the dplyr package (mutate verb)
> 
> The output in the object 'new1' are apparently same the output in the object 'new2'.  Are you trying to compare the entries of two outputs 'new1' and 'new2'?  If so, the function 'all()' would be useful:
> 
>> all(new1 == new2, na.rm=TRUE)
> [1] TRUE
> 
> If you are interested in the comparison of two objects in terms of class, then the function 'identical()' is useful:
> 
>> attributes(new1)
> $names
> [1] "id"      "mrjdate" "cocdate" "inhdate" "haldate" "oldflag"
> 
> $class
> [1] "rowwise_df" "tbl_df"     "tbl"        "data.frame"
> 
> $row.names
> [1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
> 
>> attributes(new2)
> $names
> [1] "id"      "mrjdate" "cocdate" "inhdate" "haldate" "oiddate"
> 
> $row.names
> [1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
> 
> $class
> [1] "data.frame"
> 
> I hope this helps.
> 
> Chel Hee Lee
> 
> On 12/03/2014 04:10 PM, Muhuri, Pradip (SAMHSA/CBHSQ) wrote:
>> Hello,
>> 
>> Two alternative approaches - mutate() vs. sapply() - were used to get the desired results (i.e., creating a new column of the most recent date  from 4 dates ) with help from Arun and Mark on this forum.  I now find that the two data objects (created using two different approaches) are not identical although results are exactly the same.
>> 
>> identical(new1, new2)
>> [1] FALSE
>> 
>> Please see the reproducible example below.
>> 
>> I don't understand why the code returns FALSE here.  Any hints/comments  will be  appreciated.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> Pradip
>> 
>> #############################################  reproducible example 
>> ########################################
>> library(dplyr)
>> # data object - description
>> 
>> temp <- "id  mrjdate cocdate inhdate haldate
>> 1     2004-11-04 2008-07-18 2005-07-07 2007-11-07
>> 2             NA         NA         NA         NA
>> 3     2009-10-24         NA 2011-10-13         NA
>> 4     2007-10-10         NA         NA         NA
>> 5     2006-09-01 2005-08-10         NA         NA
>> 6     2007-09-04 2011-10-05         NA         NA
>> 7     2005-10-25         NA         NA 2011-11-04"
>> 
>> # read the data object
>> 
>> example.data <- read.table(textConnection(temp),
>>                     colClasses=c("character", "Date", "Date", "Date", "Date"),
>>                     header=TRUE, as.is=TRUE
>>                     )
>> 
>> 
>> # create a new column -dplyr solution (Acknowledgement: Arun)
>> 
>> new1 <- example.data %>%
>>      rowwise() %>%
>>       mutate(oldflag=as.Date(max(mrjdate,cocdate, inhdate, haldate,
>> 
>> na.rm=TRUE), origin='1970-01-01'))
>> 
>> # create a new column - Base R solution (Acknowlegement: Mark Sharp)
>> 
>> new2 <- example.data
>> new2$oiddate <- as.Date(sapply(seq_along(new2$id), function(row) {
>>   if (all(is.na(unlist(example.data[row, c('mrjdate','cocdate', 'inhdate', 'haldate')])))) {
>>     max_d <- NA
>>   } else {
>>     max_d <- max(unlist(example.data[row, c('mrjdate','cocdate', 'inhdate', 'haldate')]), na.rm = TRUE)
>>   }
>>   max_d}),
>>   origin = "1970-01-01")
>> 
>> identical(new1, new2)
>> 
>> # print records
>> 
>> print (new1); print(new2)
>> 
>> Pradip K. Muhuri
>> SAMHSA/CBHSQ
>> 1 Choke Cherry Road, Room 2-1071
>> Rockville, MD 20857
>> Tel: 240-276-1070
>> Fax: 240-276-1260
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org 
>> [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org] On Behalf Of Muhuri, Pradip 
>> (SAMHSA/CBHSQ)
>> Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2014 6:11 AM
>> To: 'Mark Sharp'
>> Cc: r-help at r-project.org
>> Subject: Re: [R] Getting the most recent dates in a new column from 
>> dates in four columns using the dplyr package (mutate verb)
>> 
>> Hi Mark,
>> 
>> Your code has also given me the results I expected.  Thank you so much for your help.
>> 
>> Regards,
>> 
>> Pradip
>> 
>> Pradip K. Muhuri, PhD
>> SAMHSA/CBHSQ
>> 1 Choke Cherry Road, Room 2-1071
>> Rockville, MD 20857
>> Tel: 240-276-1070
>> Fax: 240-276-1260
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Mark Sharp [mailto:msharp at TxBiomed.org]
>> Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2014 3:01 AM
>> To: Muhuri, Pradip (SAMHSA/CBHSQ)
>> Cc: r-help at r-project.org
>> Subject: Re: [R] Getting the most recent dates in a new column from 
>> dates in four columns using the dplyr package (mutate verb)
>> 
>> Pradip,
>> 
>> mutate() works on the entire column as a vector so that you find the maximum of the entire data set.
>> 
>> I am almost certain there is some nice way to handle this, but the sapply() function is a standard approach.
>> 
>> max() does not want a dataframe thus the use of unlist().
>> 
>> Using your definition of data1:
>> 
>> data3 <- data1
>> data3$oidflag <- as.Date(sapply(seq_along(data3$id), function(row) {
>>   if (all(is.na(unlist(data1[row, -1])))) {
>>     max_d <- NA
>>   } else {
>>     max_d <- max(unlist(data1[row, -1]), na.rm = TRUE)
>>   }
>>   max_d}),
>>   origin = "1970-01-01")
>> 
>> data3
>>   id    mrjdate    cocdate    inhdate    haldate    oidflag
>> 1  1 2004-11-04 2008-07-18 2005-07-07 2007-11-07 2008-07-18
>> 2  2       <NA>       <NA>       <NA>       <NA>       <NA>
>> 3  3 2009-10-24       <NA> 2011-10-13       <NA> 2011-10-13
>> 4  4 2007-10-10       <NA>       <NA>       <NA> 2007-10-10
>> 5  5 2006-09-01 2005-08-10       <NA>       <NA> 2006-09-01
>> 6  6 2007-09-04 2011-10-05       <NA>       <NA> 2011-10-05
>> 7  7 2005-10-25       <NA>       <NA> 2011-11-04 2011-11-04
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> R. Mark Sharp, Ph.D.
>> Director of Primate Records Database
>> Southwest National Primate Research Center Texas Biomedical Research 
>> Institute P.O. Box 760549 San Antonio, TX 78245-0549
>> Telephone: (210)258-9476
>> e-mail: msharp at TxBiomed.org
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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David Winsemius
Alameda, CA, USA



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