robust_values {popEpi}

Convert values to numeric robustly

Description

Brute force solution for ensuring a variable is numeric by coercing a variable of any type first to factor and then to numeric

Usage

robust_values(num.values, force = FALSE, messages = TRUE)

Arguments

num.values

values to convert to numeric

force

logical; if TRUE, returns a vector of values where values that cannot be interpreted as numeric are set to NA; if FALSE, returns the original vector and gives a warning if any value cannot be interpreted as numeric.

messages

logical; if TRUE, returns a message of what was done with the num.values

Value

A numeric vector.

Note

Returns NULL if given num.values is NULL.

Author(s)

Joonas Miettinen

Examples

## this works
values <- c("1", "3", "5")
values <- robust_values(values)

## this works
values <- c("1", "3", "5", NA)
values <- robust_values(values)

## this returns originals and throws warnings
values <- c("1", "3", "5", "a")
suppressWarnings(
  values <- robust_values(values)
)


## this forces "a" to NA and works otherwise; throws warning about NAs
values <- c("1", "3", "5", "a")
suppressWarnings(
  values <- robust_values(values, force=TRUE)
)