Tidy data
Tidy data is a standard way of mapping the meaning of a dataset to its structure. A dataset is messy or tidy depending on how rows, columns and tables are matched up with observations, variables and types. In tidy data:
- Each variable forms a column.
- Each observation forms a row.
- Each type of observational unit forms a table.
Use the tidyr package to tidy up data.
library(tidyr)
Untidy data.
dim(iris)
## [1] 150 5
head(iris)
## Sepal.Length Sepal.Width Petal.Length Petal.Width Species
## 1 5.1 3.5 1.4 0.2 setosa
## 2 4.9 3.0 1.4 0.2 setosa
## 3 4.7 3.2 1.3 0.2 setosa
## 4 4.6 3.1 1.5 0.2 setosa
## 5 5.0 3.6 1.4 0.2 setosa
## 6 5.4 3.9 1.7 0.4 setosa
The gather() function rearranges the data frame by specifying the columns that are categorical variables with a - notation.
iris %>% gather(key = key, value = Value, -Species) %>% head()
## Species key Value
## 1 setosa Sepal.Length 5.1
## 2 setosa Sepal.Length 4.9
## 3 setosa Sepal.Length 4.7
## 4 setosa Sepal.Length 4.6
## 5 setosa Sepal.Length 5.0
## 6 setosa Sepal.Length 5.4
The separate() function splits up a column based on sep.
iris_tidy <- iris %>%
gather(key, Value, -Species) %>%
separate(col = key, into = c("Part", "Measure"), sep = "\\.")
head(iris_tidy)
## Species Part Measure Value
## 1 setosa Sepal Length 5.1
## 2 setosa Sepal Length 4.9
## 3 setosa Sepal Length 4.7
## 4 setosa Sepal Length 4.6
## 5 setosa Sepal Length 5.0
## 6 setosa Sepal Length 5.4
nrow(iris_tidy)
## [1] 600
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