dummify: Convert categorical variables into dummy/indicator variables

In dataframing/archive: Archive: A personal collection of utilities

Description

This function is the R equivalent of Python's pandas' :get_dummmies(). It's a fairly simple wrapper around dummyVars. This function binarizes all explicitly-factor columns within the data argument. This function can be used in one of two ways – see 'Details'. TODO: support y as a quosure. TODO: change :y to :ignore vector.

Usage

dummify(data, y = "")

Arguments

data	any dataframe-esque object containing a mix of factor and numerical columns.
y	A response column. Pass this value to the function if the response (y) column is a factor within :data that you would like to NOT be dummified. If not passed, we assume all factors are free to be dummified. See 'Details'.

Details

1. dummify(x): no y parameter passed, so all factor columns are binarized

2. dummify(x, y = 'col_name'): y parameter passed, so all factor columns except y are binarized.

   • Note: For this second approach, the y column MUST be a factor. You've been warned.

Examples

x <- data.frame(
  id     = seq(1, 10),
  age    = rpois(n=10, lambda=20),
  gender = rep(c('M', 'F'), 5),
  blood.type = factor(rep(c('A', 'B'), 5))
)

# Only expand `blood.type` factor column (`gender` is ignored because it's a character)
dummify(x)

x$gender <- factor(x$gender)

# Expand all columns into binary representations.
dummify(x)

# Ignoring `gender`, binarize all other factors.
dummify(x, y = 'blood.type')

dataframing/archive documentation built on May 20, 2019, 10:19 p.m.