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rtidyevalassertr

How to compare two columns with assertr


I want to assert that one column in my data is always greater than the other column using the assertr package. As an example let's day that mtcars mpg should always be greater than cyl. Here is what I've tried but it throws an error. Am I making a simple mistake?

library(assertr)
greater_than <- function(x, y){if(x <= y) return(FALSE)}
assert(mtcars, greater_than, x = mpg, y = cyl)
> Error in improper.predicate(x) : argument "y" is missing, with no default

Solution

  • I don't think you want assert - instead I think you want assert_rows. That means you need a row reduction function (takes a row and results in a single value) in addition to the predicate function. Here the reduction function just finds the difference between the first two columns of a data frame. Then the last argument in assert_rows tells it to essentially use a data frame only consisting of mpg and cyl (in that order) for passing to the row reduction function.

    I will say, the documentation is not great for this package. I had to go to their GitHub and then consult the code of assert_rows directly to come up with this answer.

    library(assertr)
    greater_than_0 <- function(x){if(x <= 0) return(FALSE)}
    row_redux <- function(df){df[[1]] - df[[2]]}
    assert_rows(mtcars, row_redux, greater_than_0, c(mpg, cyl))
    #>                      mpg cyl  disp  hp drat    wt  qsec vs am gear carb
    #> Mazda RX4           21.0   6 160.0 110 3.90 2.620 16.46  0  1    4    4
    #> Mazda RX4 Wag       21.0   6 160.0 110 3.90 2.875 17.02  0  1    4    4
    #> Datsun 710          22.8   4 108.0  93 3.85 2.320 18.61  1  1    4    1
    #> Hornet 4 Drive      21.4   6 258.0 110 3.08 3.215 19.44  1  0    3    1
    #> Hornet Sportabout   18.7   8 360.0 175 3.15 3.440 17.02  0  0    3    2
    #> Valiant             18.1   6 225.0 105 2.76 3.460 20.22  1  0    3    1
    #> Duster 360          14.3   8 360.0 245 3.21 3.570 15.84  0  0    3    4
    #> Merc 240D           24.4   4 146.7  62 3.69 3.190 20.00  1  0    4    2
    #> Merc 230            22.8   4 140.8  95 3.92 3.150 22.90  1  0    4    2
    #> Merc 280            19.2   6 167.6 123 3.92 3.440 18.30  1  0    4    4
    #> Merc 280C           17.8   6 167.6 123 3.92 3.440 18.90  1  0    4    4
    #> Merc 450SE          16.4   8 275.8 180 3.07 4.070 17.40  0  0    3    3
    #> Merc 450SL          17.3   8 275.8 180 3.07 3.730 17.60  0  0    3    3
    #> Merc 450SLC         15.2   8 275.8 180 3.07 3.780 18.00  0  0    3    3
    #> Cadillac Fleetwood  10.4   8 472.0 205 2.93 5.250 17.98  0  0    3    4
    #> Lincoln Continental 10.4   8 460.0 215 3.00 5.424 17.82  0  0    3    4
    #> Chrysler Imperial   14.7   8 440.0 230 3.23 5.345 17.42  0  0    3    4
    #> Fiat 128            32.4   4  78.7  66 4.08 2.200 19.47  1  1    4    1
    #> Honda Civic         30.4   4  75.7  52 4.93 1.615 18.52  1  1    4    2
    #> Toyota Corolla      33.9   4  71.1  65 4.22 1.835 19.90  1  1    4    1
    #> Toyota Corona       21.5   4 120.1  97 3.70 2.465 20.01  1  0    3    1
    #> Dodge Challenger    15.5   8 318.0 150 2.76 3.520 16.87  0  0    3    2
    #> AMC Javelin         15.2   8 304.0 150 3.15 3.435 17.30  0  0    3    2
    #> Camaro Z28          13.3   8 350.0 245 3.73 3.840 15.41  0  0    3    4
    #> Pontiac Firebird    19.2   8 400.0 175 3.08 3.845 17.05  0  0    3    2
    #> Fiat X1-9           27.3   4  79.0  66 4.08 1.935 18.90  1  1    4    1
    #> Porsche 914-2       26.0   4 120.3  91 4.43 2.140 16.70  0  1    5    2
    #> Lotus Europa        30.4   4  95.1 113 3.77 1.513 16.90  1  1    5    2
    #> Ford Pantera L      15.8   8 351.0 264 4.22 3.170 14.50  0  1    5    4
    #> Ferrari Dino        19.7   6 145.0 175 3.62 2.770 15.50  0  1    5    6
    #> Maserati Bora       15.0   8 301.0 335 3.54 3.570 14.60  0  1    5    8
    #> Volvo 142E          21.4   4 121.0 109 4.11 2.780 18.60  1  1    4    2
    

    Created on 2019-09-17 by the reprex package (v0.3.0)