[R] Converting unique strings to unique numbers

[William Dunlap]

match() will do what you want.  E.g., run your data through
the following function.

f <- function (data)
{
    uniqStrings <- unique(c(data[, 2], data[, 3], data[, 4]))
    uniqStrings <- setdiff(uniqStrings, "0")
    for (j in 2:4) {
        data[[j]] <- match(data[[j]], uniqStrings, nomatch = 0L)
    }
    data
}



Bill Dunlap
TIBCO Software
wdunlap tibco.com

On Fri, May 29, 2015 at 9:58 AM, Kate Ignatius <kate.ignatius at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I have a pedigree file as so:
>
> X0001 BYX859      0      0  2  1 BYX859
> X0001 BYX894      0      0  1  1 BYX894
> X0001 BYX862 BYX894 BYX859  2  2 BYX862
> X0001 BYX863 BYX894 BYX859  2  2 BYX863
> X0001 BYX864 BYX894 BYX859  2  2 BYX864
> X0001 BYX865 BYX894 BYX859  2  2 BYX865
>
> And I was hoping to change all unique string values to numbers.
>
> That is:
>
> BYX859 = 1
> BYX894 = 2
> BYX862 = 3
> BYX863 = 4
> BYX864 = 5
> BYX865 = 6
>
> But only in columns 2 - 4.  Essentially I would like the data to look like
> this:
>
> X0001 1 0 0  2  1 BYX859
> X0001 2 0 0  1  1 BYX894
> X0001 3 2 1  2  2 BYX862
> X0001 4 2 1  2  2 BYX863
> X0001 5 2 1  2  2 BYX864
> X0001 6 2 1  2  2 BYX865
>
> Is this possible with factors?
>
> Thanks!
>
> K.
>
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