R – Loop through columns and add string lengths as new columns

loopsr

I have a data frame with a number of columns, and would like to output a separate column for each with the length of each row in it.

I am trying to iterate through the column names, and for each column output a corresponding column with '_length' attached.

For example col1 | col2 would go to col1 | col2 | col1_length | col2_length

The code I am using is:

df <- data.frame(col1 = c("abc","abcd","a","abcdefg"),col2 = c("adf qqwe","d","e","f"))

for(i in names(df)){
  df$paste(i,'length',sep="_") <- str_length(df$i)
 }

However this throws and error:

invalid function in complex assignment.

Am I able to use loops in this way in R?

Best Answer

You need to use [[, the programmatic equivalent of $. Otherwise, for example, when i is col1, R will look for df$i instead of df$col1.

for(i in names(df)){
  df[[paste(i, 'length', sep="_")]] <- str_length(df[[i]])
}

Related Solutions

Javascript – How to loop through or enumerate a JavaScript object

You can use the for-in loop as shown by others. However, you also have to make sure that the key you get is an actual property of an object, and doesn't come from the prototype.

Here is the snippet:

var p = {
    "p1": "value1",
    "p2": "value2",
    "p3": "value3"
};

for (var key in p) {
    if (p.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
        console.log(key + " -> " + p[key]);
    }
}

For-of with Object.keys() alternative:

var p = {
    0: "value1",
    "b": "value2",
    key: "value3"
};

for (var key of Object.keys(p)) {
    console.log(key + " -> " + p[key])
}

Notice the use of for-of instead of for-in, if not used it will return undefined on named properties, and Object.keys() ensures the use of only the object's own properties without the whole prototype-chain properties

Using the new Object.entries() method:

Note: This method is not supported natively by Internet Explorer. You may consider using a Polyfill for older browsers.

const p = {
    "p1": "value1",
    "p2": "value2",
    "p3": "value3"
};

for (let [key, value] of Object.entries(p)) {
  console.log(`${key}: ${value}`);
}

Javascript – How to loop through a plain JavaScript object with the objects as members

for (var key in validation_messages) {
    // skip loop if the property is from prototype
    if (!validation_messages.hasOwnProperty(key)) continue;

    var obj = validation_messages[key];
    for (var prop in obj) {
        // skip loop if the property is from prototype
        if (!obj.hasOwnProperty(prop)) continue;

        // your code
        alert(prop + " = " + obj[prop]);
    }
}

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Javascript – How to loop through or enumerate a JavaScript object

Javascript – How to loop through a plain JavaScript object with the objects as members

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