unpackUserVariable: Unpack user defined variables

In Dectech/DectechR: Collection of useful functions for Dectech Analysts

Unpack user defined variables

Description

Split a user defined variable (from a QuestBack custom question), where multiple responses are stored in one column (e.g. "1*3*5*7") into multiple columns (e.g. 1, 3, 5, 7)

Usage

unpackUserVariable(rawText, maxCols = NULL, emptyReplacement = -99, numeric = FALSE, delimiter = "*")

Arguments

rawText	A (character) vector that you want to split
maxCols	(optional) If rows have different lengths, then this should define the maximum number of columns returned. If missing this will be guessed.
emptyReplacement	(optional) value to use when some rows are shorter than maxCols (default is -99)
numeric	(optional) When set to TRUE, will attempt to convert output to numeric matrix (default is FALSE)
delimiter	(optional) character used to split elements in each row (default is *)

Details

Sometimes the output from a custom question on QuestBack is stored as a string representing multiple values e.g. "1*3*5*7". This function takes a vector of values stored in this format and splits them out into a matrix of values. If the rows have variable lengths, then each row will be padded out using the emptyReplacement value.

Value

Returns a matrix with same number of rows as input. If input had variable lengths and maxCol was not set, then returns a list.

See Also

See also strsplit

Examples

    # most common usage...
    test1 = c("a*1*2*3","b*10*20*30","c*11*22*33","d*1*2*3")
    unpackUserVariable(test1)

    # if you know the input is numeric then can convert..
    test2 = c("1*2*3","10*20*30","11*22*33","1*2*3")
    unpackUserVariable(test2,numeric = T)

    # if input has variable number of elements per row..
    # ...then set maxCols to match the longest row...
    # ...but the function should guess maxCols if not provided...
    test3 = c("1*2*3","10*20","11*22*33","1*2*3")
    thisResult = unpackUserVariable(test3,numeric = T, maxCols = 3)

Dectech/DectechR documentation built on Feb. 15, 2024, 9:17 a.m.