Can I use dplyr::select(ends_with) to select column names that fit any of multiple conditions. Considering my column names, I want to use ends with instead of contains or matches, because the strings I want to select are relevant at the end of the column name, but may also appear in the middle in others. For instance,
df <- data.frame(a10 = 1:4,
a11 = 5:8,
a20 = 1:4,
a12 = 5:8)
I want to select columns that end with 1 or 2, to have only columns a11 and a12. Is select(ends_with) the best way to do this?
Thanks!
You can also do this using regular expressions. I know you did not want to use matches initially, but it actually works quite well if you use the "end of string" symbol $
. Separate your various endings with |
.
df <- data.frame(a10 = 1:4,
a11 = 5:8,
a20 = 1:4,
a12 = 5:8)
df %>% select(matches('1$|2$'))
a11 a12
1 5 5
2 6 6
3 7 7
4 8 8
If you have a more complex example with a long list, use paste0
with collapse = '|'
.
dff <- data.frame(a11 = 1:3,
a12 = 2:4,
a13 = 3:5,
a16 = 5:7,
my_cat = LETTERS[1:3],
my_dog = LETTERS[5:7],
my_snake = LETTERS[9:11])
my_cols <- paste0(c(1,2,6,'dog','cat'),
'$',
collapse = '|')
dff %>% select(matches(my_cols))
a11 a12 a16 my_cat my_dog
1 1 2 5 A E
2 2 3 6 B F
3 3 4 7 C G