as_character.prelabelled: Coerce prelabelled vectors to semantic character workspace

In dataset: Create Data Frames for Exchange and Reuse

Coerce prelabelled vectors to semantic character workspace

Description

Convert a prelabelled vector into a semantic character workspace suitable for iterative refinement and inference workflows.

Usage

## S3 method for class 'prelabelled'
as_character(x, ...)

Arguments

x	A prelabelled vector.
...	Unused.

Details

Unlike base as.character(), this method preserves:

• original observational values;

• semantic label mappings;

• refinement metadata;

• additional custom attributes.

The method operationalises provisional semantic labels into working character values while retaining the original observed vector for reversibility and provenance-aware workflows.

This allows workflows such as:

• prelabel() %>% as.character() %>% refine()

• prelabel() %>% as.character() %>% infer()

• iterative semantic harmonisation;

• contextual semantic derivation.

The original observational values are preserved in the "original_values" attribute.

The method intentionally separates:

• observational evidence;

• semantic operationalisation.

This distinction is important for provenance-aware semantic refinement workflows where semantic interpretations may evolve while original observations remain stable.

The coercion is therefore semantically reversible.

Value

A character vector where:

• values are derived from the semantic labels;

• original observations are preserved as attributes;

• refinement metadata is retained;

• the "prelabelled" class is removed.

Examples

x <- prelabel(
  c(
    "r",
    "pdf",
    "qmd"
  ),
  labels = c(
    r = "software development",
    pdf = "publication",
    qmd = "documentation"
  )
)

x

y <- as_character(x)

y

attributes(y)

attr(
  y,
  "original_values"
)

dataset documentation built on June 3, 2026, 5:07 p.m.