[R] Variable labels
Steven Yen
@tyen @end|ng |rom ntu@edu@tw
Fri May 14 12:48:14 CEST 2021
Never mind what I said about "Clickable". All I meant was I created an
item "definitions" that appears after I load the binary file, and that I
can "click" (don's ask me what I mean by "click") the item in RStudio to
read its contents -- variable definitions.
All I want to know at this pointis, is whether my way of getting the
definitions in the environment "clumsy" and whether there are better
ways to do it. Yes, you mention "attr..." but that is not as simple as
viewing it in RStudio's environment pane. Thank you!
On 2021/5/14 下午 06:37, PIKAL Petr wrote:
> Hm. What do you mean by "clickable".
>
> #I can save any objects to a file
> save(mydata,definitions, file="test.R")
> rm("mydata", "definitions")
>
> #load them back
> load("test.R")
>
> #but it does not make them "clickable". Point and click is something I am familiar with in Excel or similar programs byt not in R.
>
> #objects are back in the environment and one can inspect them by regular way (print, str, head, ...)
> mydata
> id age yrmarry
> 1 1 35 4
> 2 2 31 6
> 3 3 21 4
> 4 4 20 3
> 5 5 19 7
> 6 6 24 5
> definitions
> var.labels
> id Individual ID
> age Age in Years
> yrmarry Years of marriage
>
> If you want definitions to be part of the data file just use attr.
>
> attr(mydata, "var.labels") <- definitions$var.labels
>
> attributes(mydata)
> $names
> [1] "id" "age" "yrmarry"
>
> $class
> [1] "data.frame"
>
> $row.names
> [1] 1 2 3 4 5 6
>
> $var.labels
> [1] "Individual ID" "Age in Years" "Years of marriage"
>
> Cheers
> Petr
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: R-help <r-help-bounces using r-project.org> On Behalf Of Steven Yen
>> Sent: Friday, May 14, 2021 11:20 AM
>> To: Jim Lemon <drjimlemon using gmail.com>
>> Cc: R-help Mailing List <r-help using r-project.org>
>> Subject: Re: [R] Variable labels
>>
>> Thanks to all, for bearing with me.
>>
>> Now I realize expss may not be what I need. I have now written a self-
>> runnable, replicable set of codes (listed below). Perhaps that gives an idea of
>> what I need. Question is, whethet this is the right way to do this (to have a
>> clickable object to learn about variable
>> definitions) or whether there are better ways. Thanks!
>>
>> Steven
>>
>> rm(list=ls())
>> n<-6
>> mydata<-data.frame(id=1:n,
>> age=floor(rnorm(n,25,10)),
>> yrmarry=floor(rnorm(n,5,2))) var.labels<-c(id = "Individual ID",
>> age = "Age in Years",
>> yrmarry = "Years of marriage")
>> definitions<-as.data.frame(var.labels) # declare definitions as a data frame
>> save.image("c:/temp/a/try1.RData") # save binary .RData file
>> rm(list=ls()) # clean environment
>> load("c:/temp/a/try1.RData") # now load .RData file and definitions are
>> clickable
>> # all I need is for user to be able to click
>> # and read the variable definitions
>>
>> On 2021/5/14 下午 05:15, Jim Lemon wrote:
>>> Hi Steven,
>>> I just happened to scan Petr's message to you and wondered if you were
>>> looking for something related to the "describe" function in the
>>> prettyR package (and a few others). For instance, if you do this:
>>>
>>> library(prettyR)
>>> describe(mtcars)
>>>
>>> you get this:
>>>
>>> Description of mtcars
>>>
>>> Numeric
>>> mean median var sd valid.n
>>> mpg 20.09 19.20 36.32 6.03 32
>>> cyl 6.19 6.00 3.19 1.79 32
>>> disp 230.72 196.30 15360.80 123.94 32
>>> hp 146.69 123.00 4700.87 68.56 32
>>> drat 3.60 3.70 0.29 0.53 32
>>> wt 3.22 3.33 0.96 0.98 32
>>> qsec 17.85 17.71 3.19 1.79 32
>>> vs 0.44 0.00 0.25 0.50 32
>>> am 0.41 0.00 0.25 0.50 32
>>> gear 3.69 4.00 0.54 0.74 32
>>> carb 2.81 2.00 2.61 1.62 32
>>>
>>> However, you can call almost any summary function as an argument to
>>> describe. Suppose I wrote a function "fackey" that produced this
>>> output on a factor variable "city":
>>>
>>> fackey(city)
>>>
>>> label numeric count
>>> New York 10 30
>>> London 15 23
>>> Paris 16 22
>>> Rome 20 25
>>>
>>> So if you ran "describe" on your data frame, you would get a list of
>>> summary data frames that could be saved with the data frame in an
>>> .Rdata file. Is this what you are looking for?
>>>
>>> Jim
>>>
>>> On Fri, May 14, 2021 at 4:59 PM PIKAL Petr <petr.pikal using precheza.cz>
>> wrote:
>>>> Hallo Steven
>>>>
>>>> You probably need to be more specific what is your intention. I still
>> wonder what is the real problem you want to solve.
>>>> You loaded binary file and it resulted to 2 data frames. So far so good. But
>> now I am lost.
>>>> You want to merge info from data frame "desc" to data frame "data"? You
>> can use attr.
>>>> You want to make binary file which behaves like the one you get? Use
>> save/load.
>>>> You want to do something different? So please explain what exactly.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers
>>>> Petr
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: Steven Yen <styen using ntu.edu.tw>
>>>>> Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2021 5:53 PM
>>>>> To: PIKAL Petr <petr.pikal using precheza.cz>
>>>>> Subject: Re: [R] Variable labels
>>>>>
>>>>> Petr
>>>>>
>>>>> Those attachments (1.jpg, 2.jpg) I sent earlier were just screen
>>>>> captures (with a third-party program) of what I saw in the
>>>>> Environment pane right after loading the data. Sorry I cannot explain my
>> questions well enough.
>>>>> All I was showing you was, right after loading the binary data file,
>>>>> I saw two data frames---data which contain the data, and desc which
>>>>> contains definitions of all variables (as shown in 2.jpg). This is a
>>>>> data file from the publisher and I wanted to know what it takes to
>>>>> create a binary data files along with definitions of variables, both in the
>> environment.
>>>>> Steven
>>>>>
>>>>> On 2021/5/13 下午 09:51, PIKAL Petr wrote:
>>>>>> Hi Steven
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I probably do not understand your question correctly. In 1 you show
>>>>>> two
>>>>> objects "data" 14x42 data frame and "desc" which is 2x14 data frame,
>>>>> both residing in global environment.
>>>>>> In 2 you show contents of data frame desc where variable are
>>>>>> probably
>>>>> variable names which are also in data object.
>>>>>> names(data)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> and label which is some more elaborate description of the variable.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If you want to move this label into your data object you probably
>>>>>> could use attr
>>>>>>
>>>>>> attr(data, "label") <- desc$label
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If the order of "variable" is same as the order of data columns.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I do not understand what do you mean by - how to get that "desc" in
>>>>>> there in the environment? It is already part of global environment.
>>>>>> You
>>>>> want to create some new environment and move you desc there?
>>>>>> Beside, your images are not familiar to me, this is plain R or some
>>>>>> kind of
>>>>> special GUI like R studio?
>>>>>> Cheers
>>>>>> Petr
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>>> From: Steven Yen <styen using ntu.edu.tw>
>>>>>>> Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2021 1:37 PM
>>>>>>> To: PIKAL Petr <petr.pikal using precheza.cz>
>>>>>>> Subject: Re: [R] Variable labels
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Petr
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks. I am sending this to you privately as I am sending attachment.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 1. I load the binary file and see the data frame and what appears
>>>>>>> to be description (desc) alongside it (1.jpg).
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 2. Expanding "desc", I get to read the documentation (contents of
>> desc).
>>>>>>> (2.jpg).
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> #2 is all I need. I do not need to do anything fancy with the
>>>>>>> variable label. I just like my students to have a simple ways of
>>>>>>> learning the variables is the data file I provide to them.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Again, my main question is, how to get that "desc" in there in the
>>>>>>> environment. Thanks.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Steven
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 2021/5/13 下午 06:31, PIKAL Petr wrote:
>>>>>>>> Hi.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Maybe you could use attributes.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> dput(vec.m)
>>>>>>>> structure(list(Group.1 = c(2003, 2021, 2003, 2021, 2003, 2021,
>>>>>>>> 2003, 2021, 2003, 2021, 2003, 2021, 2003, 2021, 2003, 2021, 2003,
>>>>>>>> 2021), variable = structure(c(1L, 1L, 2L, 2L, 3L, 3L, 4L, 4L, 5L,
>>>>>>>> 5L, 6L, 6L, 7L, 7L, 8L, 8L, 9L, 9L), .Label = c("s6", "s5", "s4",
>>>>>>>> "s3", "s2", "s1.5", "s.7", "s.5", "pod"), class = "factor"),
>>>>>>>> value = c(3.29, 0.525, 5.01, 1.385, 16.38, 7.67, 5.535, 3.28,
>>>>>>>> 25.49, 24.41, 10.285, 12.79, 8.905, 12.92, 1.68, 3.67, 2.595,
>>>>>>>> 5.06)), row.names = c(NA, -18L), class = "data.frame")
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> attr(vec.m, "some.kind.of.value") <- c("some specialvector",
>>>>>>>>> "another special vector", "just ordinary vector")
>>>>>>>> You can access them by attributes or attr.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> attributes(vec.m)
>>>>>>>> $row.names
>>>>>>>> [1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> $names
>>>>>>>> [1] "Group.1" "variable" "value"
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> $class
>>>>>>>> [1] "data.frame"
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> $some.kind.of.value
>>>>>>>> [1] "some specialvector" "another special vector" "just ordinary
>>>>> vector"
>>>>>>>>> attr(vec.m, "some")
>>>>>>>> [1] "some specialvector" "another special vector" "just ordinary
>>>>> vector"
>>>>>>>> Cheers
>>>>>>>> Petr
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>>>>> From: R-help <r-help-bounces using r-project.org> On Behalf Of Steven
>>>>> Yen
>>>>>>>>> Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2021 10:07 AM
>>>>>>>>> To: Fredrik Karlsson <dargosch using gmail.com>
>>>>>>>>> Cc: R-help Mailing List <r-help using r-project.org>
>>>>>>>>> Subject: Re: [R] Variable labels
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Thanks. What I need “appears” simple. The .RData file is
>>>>>>>>> provided by a third party (likely converted from a different
>>>>>>>>> data format such as SAS in which variable labels (not value
>>>>>>>>> labels) are common). When I load the binary file, in the
>>>>>>>>> “environment” I see, as expected, a data frame showing how many
>>>>>>>>> observations for how many variables. In addition, there is also
>>>>>>>>> an item (in the
>>>>>>>>> environment) (say “desc”) containing a list of variable labels
>>>>>>>>> (definitions). I simply like to know how to get “desc” in the
>>>>>>>>> environment—-it is a convenient way to show definitions of all
>>>>>>>>> variables when you send a binary data file to a third party. Thank
>> you.
>>>>>>>>>> On May 13, 2021, at 2:57 PM, Fredrik Karlsson
>>>>>>>>>> <dargosch using gmail.com>
>>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> I am sorry but I don't understand your question, Generally,
>>>>>>>>>> "clicking" is not
>>>>>>>>> something you can assume to be implemented for anything in R.
>>>>>>>>>> However, if you read the manual for the package
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> https://gdemin.github.io/expss/
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> you get an example at the bottom where an illustration of how
>>>>>>>>>> the package
>>>>>>>>> can be used to create Excel tables which would then be easy to
>>>>>>>>> interact with through clicking.
>>>>>>>>>> Is that what you wanted?
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Fredrik
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> On Thu, May 13, 2021 at 4:49 AM Steven Yen
>> <styen using ntu.edu.tw>
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>> I insert variable with the expss function as shown below. No
>>>>>>>>>>> error message. My question is, how to save the variable labels
>>>>>>>>>>> in the data frame so that I can click to read the labels. Thank you.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> mydata<-read_excel("data/Excel/hseinv.xlsx",na=".")
>>>>>>>>>>> library(expss)
>>>>>>>>>>> mydata=apply_labels(mydata,
>>>>>>>>>>> year ="1947-1988",
>>>>>>>>>>> inv ="real housing inv, millions $",
>>>>>>>>>>> pop ="population, 1000s",
>>>>>>>>>>> price ="housing price index; 1982 = 1",
>>>>>>>>>>> linv ="log(inv)",
>>>>>>>>>>> lpop ="log(pop)",
>>>>>>>>>>> lprice ="log(price)",
>>>>>>>>>>> t ="time trend: t=1,...,42",
>>>>>>>>>>> invpc ="per capita inv: inv/pop",
>>>>>>>>>>> linvpc ="log(invpc)",
>>>>>>>>>>> lprice_1="lprice[_n-1]",
>>>>>>>>>>> linvpc_1="linvpc[_n-1]",
>>>>>>>>>>> gprice ="lprice - lprice_1",
>>>>>>>>>>> ginvpc ="linvpc - linvpc_1")
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> ______________________________________________
>>>>>>>>>>> R-help using r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more,
>>>>>>>>>>> see https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>>>>>>>>>>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>>>>>>>>>>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible
>>>>> code.
>>>>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>>>>> "Life is like a trumpet - if you don't put anything into it,
>>>>>>>>>> you don't get
>>>>>>>>> anything out of it."
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> ______________________________________________
>>>>>>>>> R-help using r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more,
>>>>>>>>> see https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>>>>>>>>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
>>>>>>>>> http://www.R-project.org/posting- guide.html and provide
>>>>>>>>> commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>>> ______________________________________________
>>>> R-help using r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
>>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>>>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
>>>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>>>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-help using r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-
>> guide.html
>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
More information about the R-help
mailing list