library(nycflights13)
library(tidyverse)dplyr Row Operations
We shall use the flights dataset from the nycflights13 package. The tidyverse is loaded for the dplyr package.
The most important verbs that operate on rows of a dataset are filter(), which changes which rows are present without changing their order, and arrange(), which changes the order of the rows without changing which are present. Both functions only affect the rows, and the columns are left unchanged. We’ll also discuss distinct() which finds rows with unique values but unlike arrange() and filter() it can also optionally modify the columns.
filter()
filter() allows you to keep rows based on the values of the columns. The first argument is the data frame. The second and subsequent arguments are the conditions that must be true to keep the row. For example, we could find all flights that departed more than 120 minutes (two hours) late:
flights |>
filter(dep_delay > 120)# A tibble: 9,723 × 19
year month day dep_time sched_dep_time dep_delay arr_time sched_arr_time
<int> <int> <int> <int> <int> <dbl> <int> <int>
1 2013 1 1 848 1835 853 1001 1950
2 2013 1 1 957 733 144 1056 853
3 2013 1 1 1114 900 134 1447 1222
4 2013 1 1 1540 1338 122 2020 1825
5 2013 1 1 1815 1325 290 2120 1542
6 2013 1 1 1842 1422 260 1958 1535
7 2013 1 1 1856 1645 131 2212 2005
8 2013 1 1 1934 1725 129 2126 1855
9 2013 1 1 1938 1703 155 2109 1823
10 2013 1 1 1942 1705 157 2124 1830
# ℹ 9,713 more rows
# ℹ 11 more variables: arr_delay <dbl>, carrier <chr>, flight <int>,
# tailnum <chr>, origin <chr>, dest <chr>, air_time <dbl>, distance <dbl>,
# hour <dbl>, minute <dbl>, time_hour <dttm>As well as > (greater than), you can use >= (greater than or equal to), < (less than), <= (less than or equal to), == (equal to), and != (not equal to). You can also combine conditions with & or , to indicate “and” (check for both conditions) or with | to indicate “or” (check for either condition):
# Flights that departed on January 1
flights |>
filter(month == 1 & day == 1)# A tibble: 842 × 19
year month day dep_time sched_dep_time dep_delay arr_time sched_arr_time
<int> <int> <int> <int> <int> <dbl> <int> <int>
1 2013 1 1 517 515 2 830 819
2 2013 1 1 533 529 4 850 830
3 2013 1 1 542 540 2 923 850
4 2013 1 1 544 545 -1 1004 1022
5 2013 1 1 554 600 -6 812 837
6 2013 1 1 554 558 -4 740 728
7 2013 1 1 555 600 -5 913 854
8 2013 1 1 557 600 -3 709 723
9 2013 1 1 557 600 -3 838 846
10 2013 1 1 558 600 -2 753 745
# ℹ 832 more rows
# ℹ 11 more variables: arr_delay <dbl>, carrier <chr>, flight <int>,
# tailnum <chr>, origin <chr>, dest <chr>, air_time <dbl>, distance <dbl>,
# hour <dbl>, minute <dbl>, time_hour <dttm>There’s a useful shortcut when you’re combining | and ==: %in%. It keeps rows where the variable equals one of the values on the right:
# A shorter way to select flights that departed in January or February
flights |>
filter(month %in% c(1, 2))# A tibble: 51,955 × 19
year month day dep_time sched_dep_time dep_delay arr_time sched_arr_time
<int> <int> <int> <int> <int> <dbl> <int> <int>
1 2013 1 1 517 515 2 830 819
2 2013 1 1 533 529 4 850 830
3 2013 1 1 542 540 2 923 850
4 2013 1 1 544 545 -1 1004 1022
5 2013 1 1 554 600 -6 812 837
6 2013 1 1 554 558 -4 740 728
7 2013 1 1 555 600 -5 913 854
8 2013 1 1 557 600 -3 709 723
9 2013 1 1 557 600 -3 838 846
10 2013 1 1 558 600 -2 753 745
# ℹ 51,945 more rows
# ℹ 11 more variables: arr_delay <dbl>, carrier <chr>, flight <int>,
# tailnum <chr>, origin <chr>, dest <chr>, air_time <dbl>, distance <dbl>,
# hour <dbl>, minute <dbl>, time_hour <dttm>When you run filter() dplyr executes the filtering operation, creating a new data frame, and then prints it. It doesn’t modify the existing flights dataset because dplyr functions never modify their inputs. To save the result, you need to use the assignment operator, <-:
jan1 <- flights |>
filter(month == 1 & day == 1)arrange()
arrange() changes the order of the rows based on the value of the columns. It takes a data frame and a set of column names (or more complicated expressions) to order by. If you provide more than one column name, each additional column will be used to break ties in the values of preceding columns. For example, the following code sorts by the departure time, which is spread over four columns. We get the earliest years first, then within a year the earliest months, etc.
flights |>
arrange(year, month, day, dep_time)# A tibble: 336,776 × 19
year month day dep_time sched_dep_time dep_delay arr_time sched_arr_time
<int> <int> <int> <int> <int> <dbl> <int> <int>
1 2013 1 1 517 515 2 830 819
2 2013 1 1 533 529 4 850 830
3 2013 1 1 542 540 2 923 850
4 2013 1 1 544 545 -1 1004 1022
5 2013 1 1 554 600 -6 812 837
6 2013 1 1 554 558 -4 740 728
7 2013 1 1 555 600 -5 913 854
8 2013 1 1 557 600 -3 709 723
9 2013 1 1 557 600 -3 838 846
10 2013 1 1 558 600 -2 753 745
# ℹ 336,766 more rows
# ℹ 11 more variables: arr_delay <dbl>, carrier <chr>, flight <int>,
# tailnum <chr>, origin <chr>, dest <chr>, air_time <dbl>, distance <dbl>,
# hour <dbl>, minute <dbl>, time_hour <dttm>You can use desc() on a column inside of arrange() to re-order the data frame based on that column in descending (big-to-small) order. For example, this code orders flights from most to least delayed:
flights |>
arrange(desc(dep_delay))# A tibble: 336,776 × 19
year month day dep_time sched_dep_time dep_delay arr_time sched_arr_time
<int> <int> <int> <int> <int> <dbl> <int> <int>
1 2013 1 9 641 900 1301 1242 1530
2 2013 6 15 1432 1935 1137 1607 2120
3 2013 1 10 1121 1635 1126 1239 1810
4 2013 9 20 1139 1845 1014 1457 2210
5 2013 7 22 845 1600 1005 1044 1815
6 2013 4 10 1100 1900 960 1342 2211
7 2013 3 17 2321 810 911 135 1020
8 2013 6 27 959 1900 899 1236 2226
9 2013 7 22 2257 759 898 121 1026
10 2013 12 5 756 1700 896 1058 2020
# ℹ 336,766 more rows
# ℹ 11 more variables: arr_delay <dbl>, carrier <chr>, flight <int>,
# tailnum <chr>, origin <chr>, dest <chr>, air_time <dbl>, distance <dbl>,
# hour <dbl>, minute <dbl>, time_hour <dttm>Note that the number of rows has not changed – we’re only arranging the data, we’re not filtering it.
distinct()
distinct() finds all the unique rows in a dataset, so in a technical sense, it primarily operates on the rows. Most of the time, however, you’ll want the distinct combination of some variables, so you can also optionally supply column names:
# Remove duplicate rows, if any
flights |>
distinct()# A tibble: 336,776 × 19
year month day dep_time sched_dep_time dep_delay arr_time sched_arr_time
<int> <int> <int> <int> <int> <dbl> <int> <int>
1 2013 1 1 517 515 2 830 819
2 2013 1 1 533 529 4 850 830
3 2013 1 1 542 540 2 923 850
4 2013 1 1 544 545 -1 1004 1022
5 2013 1 1 554 600 -6 812 837
6 2013 1 1 554 558 -4 740 728
7 2013 1 1 555 600 -5 913 854
8 2013 1 1 557 600 -3 709 723
9 2013 1 1 557 600 -3 838 846
10 2013 1 1 558 600 -2 753 745
# ℹ 336,766 more rows
# ℹ 11 more variables: arr_delay <dbl>, carrier <chr>, flight <int>,
# tailnum <chr>, origin <chr>, dest <chr>, air_time <dbl>, distance <dbl>,
# hour <dbl>, minute <dbl>, time_hour <dttm>Alternatively, if you want to the keep other columns when filtering for unique rows, you can use the .keep_all = TRUE option.
flights |>
distinct(origin, dest, .keep_all = TRUE)# A tibble: 224 × 19
year month day dep_time sched_dep_time dep_delay arr_time sched_arr_time
<int> <int> <int> <int> <int> <dbl> <int> <int>
1 2013 1 1 517 515 2 830 819
2 2013 1 1 533 529 4 850 830
3 2013 1 1 542 540 2 923 850
4 2013 1 1 544 545 -1 1004 1022
5 2013 1 1 554 600 -6 812 837
6 2013 1 1 554 558 -4 740 728
7 2013 1 1 555 600 -5 913 854
8 2013 1 1 557 600 -3 709 723
9 2013 1 1 557 600 -3 838 846
10 2013 1 1 558 600 -2 753 745
# ℹ 214 more rows
# ℹ 11 more variables: arr_delay <dbl>, carrier <chr>, flight <int>,
# tailnum <chr>, origin <chr>, dest <chr>, air_time <dbl>, distance <dbl>,
# hour <dbl>, minute <dbl>, time_hour <dttm>It’s not a coincidence that all of these distinct flights are on January 1: distinct() will find the first occurrence of a unique row in the dataset and discard the rest.
If you want to find the number of occurrences instead, you’re better off swapping distinct() for count(), and with the sort = TRUE argument you can arrange them in descending order of number of occurrences.
flights |>
count(origin, dest, sort = TRUE)# A tibble: 224 × 3
origin dest n
<chr> <chr> <int>
1 JFK LAX 11262
2 LGA ATL 10263
3 LGA ORD 8857
4 JFK SFO 8204
5 LGA CLT 6168
6 EWR ORD 6100
7 JFK BOS 5898
8 LGA MIA 5781
9 JFK MCO 5464
10 EWR BOS 5327
# ℹ 214 more rows