with_name_labs {labelr}

Overlay Variable Name Labels Onto Arbitrary R Function Calls

Description

with_name_labs instructs R function calls to swap in variable name labels for column names in the objects they return or side effects they produce.

Usage

with_name_labs(data, ...)

wnl(data, ...)

Arguments

data

a data.frame with name labels.

...

an additional expression passed to dots (quotes and dollar signs are not needed or permitted).

Details

Note: wnl is a compact alias for with_name_labs: they do the same thing, and the former is easier to type

with_name_labs is intended for interactive use. With it, you pass a name-labeled data.frame, followed by a comma, followed by an unquoted R expression (function call) to be evaluated within that data.frame, and name labels will be substituted for column names in any returned object or side effects. Your function call (expression) should refer to columns of the data.frame, NOT their name labels, as the intent is to allow you to pass functions in terms of the (typically much more concise and familiar) column names while having the results displayed / presented in terms of the more informative (but more verbose and typically non-standard) name labels. See examples.

Caution: with_name_labs is a rudimentary function that leverages basic, fairly literal (and potentially brittle!) regular expressions and eval(parse(text=)) to substitute name labels for variable names behind the scenes. It appears to be robust to a range of common commands and operators (e.g., ~ , * , +, :, ::, =, and |). However, it is intended strictly as a convenience for relatively simple, interactive, single-line-expression use cases, involving data exploration, description, or simple model-fitting. It is expressly NOT intended for: (1) multi-step workflows or pipes, (2) expressions that require or make reference to objects existing outside the supplied data.frame, or (3) data management operations aimed at modifying (e.g., subsetting, merging, renaming) – as opposed to merely describing or analyzing – the supplied data.frame. Again, see the examples for the types of expressions/use cases envisioned.

Value

the value of the evaluated expr, with name labels substituted for variable (column) names.

Examples

# assign mtcars to new data.frame mt2
mt2 <- mtcars

# add name labs
mt2 <- add_name_labs(mt2,
  name.labs = c(
    "mpg" = "Miles/(US) gallon",
    "cyl" = "Number of cylinders",
    "disp" = "Displacement (cu.in.)",
    "hp" = "Gross horsepower",
    "drat" = "Rear axle ratio",
    "wt" = "Weight (1000 lbs)",
    "qsec" = "1/4 mile time",
    "vs" = "Engine (0 = V-shaped, 1 = straight)",
    "am" = "Transmission (0 = automatic, 1 = manual)",
    "gear" = "Number of forward gears",
    "carb" = "Number of carburetors"
  )
)


with_name_labs(mt2, t.test(mpg ~ am))
with_name_labs(mt2, lm(mpg ~ am))
with_name_labs(mt2, summary(mt2))
with_name_labs(mt2, cor(mt2, use = "pairwise.complete.obs"))
with_name_labs(mt2, xtabs(~gear))
xtabs(~ mt2$gear)
with_name_labs(mt2, cor(mpg, carb))
with_name_labs(mt2, hist(mpg))
with_name_labs(mt2, plot(mpg, carb))
with_name_labs(mt2, head(gear))
with_name_labs(mt2, summary(mt2))