Applying multiple functions to one column

Question

I have four functions, clean, clean2, cleanFun, and trim. Currently I apply the functions to one column, like so.

library(tidyverse)
library(data.table)


py17$CE.Finding.Description <- clean(py17$CE.Finding.Description)
py17$CE.Finding.Description  <- clean2(py17$CE.Finding.Description)
py17$CE.Finding.Description  <- cleanFun(py17$CE.Finding.Description)
py17$CE.Finding.Description  <- trim(py17$CE.Finding.Description)

This process does the trick but I have to copy and paste this multiple times, and I'd eventually like to expand this to multiple columns.

For now, I'd like to save time and add an apply function but I'm not sure how to create that apply function. I've tried creating this.

maxclean <- function(cleaner) {
                c(clean(cleaner), clean2(cleaner), cleanFun(cleaner), trim(cleaner))
                 }


py17$CE.Finding.Description <- sapply(py17$CE.Finding.Description, maxclean)

After trying this I just get

Error in `$<-.data.frame`(`*tmp*`, CE.Finding.Description, value = c(NA,  : 
  replacement has 4 rows, data has 4318

I do not get any errors doing this the long way. Where am I going wrong on this?

Answer 1

Your maxclean function should take the same arguments as the separate functions. In your case - a vector. And then call each function in a row. Like this:

maxclean <- function(x) {
            x <- clean(x)
            x <- clean2(x)
            x <- cleanFun(x)
            x <- trim(x)
            return(x)
            }