Convert values to NA

Source: R/na_if.R

This is a translation of the SQL command NULL_IF. It is useful if you want to convert an annoying value to NA.

na_if(x, y)

Arguments

x

Vector to modify
y

Value to replace with NA

Value

A modified version of x that replaces any values that are equal to y with NA.

See also

coalesce() to replace missing values with a specified value.

tidyr::replace_na() to replace NA with a value.

recode() to more generally replace values.

Examples

na_if(1:5, 5:1)
#> [1]  1  2 NA  4  5

x <- c(1, -1, 0, 10)
100 / x
#> [1]  100 -100  Inf   10
100 / na_if(x, 0)
#> [1]  100 -100   NA   10

y <- c("abc", "def", "", "ghi")
na_if(y, "")
#> [1] "abc" "def" NA    "ghi"

# na_if is particularly useful inside mutate,
# and is meant for use with vectors rather than entire data frames
starwars %>%
  select(name, eye_color) %>%
  mutate(eye_color = na_if(eye_color, "unknown"))
#> # A tibble: 87 x 2
#>    name               eye_color
#>    <chr>              <chr>    
#>  1 Luke Skywalker     blue     
#>  2 C-3PO              yellow   
#>  3 R2-D2              red      
#>  4 Darth Vader        yellow   
#>  5 Leia Organa        brown    
#>  6 Owen Lars          blue     
#>  7 Beru Whitesun lars blue     
#>  8 R5-D4              red      
#>  9 Biggs Darklighter  brown    
#> 10 Obi-Wan Kenobi     blue-gray
#> # … with 77 more rows

# na_if can also be used with scoped variants of mutate
# like mutate_if to mutate multiple columns
starwars %>%
  mutate_if(is.character, list(~na_if(., "unknown")))
#> # A tibble: 87 x 13
#>    name  height  mass hair_color skin_color eye_color birth_year gender
#>    <chr>  <int> <dbl> <chr>      <chr>      <chr>          <dbl> <chr> 
#>  1 Luke…    172    77 blond      fair       blue            19   male  
#>  2 C-3PO    167    75 <NA>       gold       yellow         112   <NA>  
#>  3 R2-D2     96    32 <NA>       white, bl… red             33   <NA>  
#>  4 Dart…    202   136 none       white      yellow          41.9 male  
#>  5 Leia…    150    49 brown      light      brown           19   female
#>  6 Owen…    178   120 brown, gr… light      blue            52   male  
#>  7 Beru…    165    75 brown      light      blue            47   female
#>  8 R5-D4     97    32 <NA>       white, red red             NA   <NA>  
#>  9 Bigg…    183    84 black      light      brown           24   male  
#> 10 Obi-…    182    77 auburn, w… fair       blue-gray       57   male  
#> # … with 77 more rows, and 5 more variables: homeworld <chr>, species <chr>,
#> #   films <list>, vehicles <list>, starships <list>