saving a character vector

[Taka Matzmoto]

Hi R users

I wrote a function that generates some character strings.

generate.index<-function(n.item){
for (i in 1:n.item)
    {
        for (j in ((i+1):n.item))
            {
               
cat("i",formatC(i,digits=2,flag="0"),".",formatC(j,digits=2,flag="0"),"\n",sep="")

            }

    }
                                }

I like to save what appears on the screen when I run using
generate.index(10) as a character vector

I used
temp <- generate.index(10)

but it didn't work.

Could you provide some advice on this issue?

Thanks in advance

TM

______________________________________________
[hidden email] mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html

[Dominik-3-2]

Am Samstag, den 04.02.2006, 17:46 -0600 schrieb Taka Matzmoto:

> Hi R users
>
> I wrote a function that generates some character strings.
>
> generate.index<-function(n.item){
> for (i in 1:n.item)
>     {
>         for (j in ((i+1):n.item))
>             {
>                
> cat("i",formatC(i,digits=2,flag="0"),".",formatC(j,digits=2,flag="0"),"\n",sep="")

   ^
replace "cat" with "return"

>             }
>
>     }
>                                 }
>
> I like to save what appears on the screen when I run using
> generate.index(10) as a character vector
>
> I used
> temp <- generate.index(10)
>
> but it didn't work.
>
> Could you provide some advice on this issue?
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> TM
>
> ______________________________________________
> [hidden email] mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html

______________________________________________
[hidden email] mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html

[John Fox]

Dear Dominik,

Replacing cat() with return() won't do the trick, I think: First, it will
return only the first time through the inner loop; second, it will call
return with several values.

I think that Taka probably had in mind something like:

generate.index<-function(n.item){
    result <- rep("", n.item*(n.item-1)/2)
    index <- 0
    for (i in 1:(n.item - 1))
        {
            for (j in ((i+1):n.item))
                {
                index <- index + 1                
                result[index] <- paste("i", formatC(i, digits=2, flag="0"),
".",
                    formatC(j, digits=2, flag="0"), sep="")
                }
        }
    result
    }

For example:

> generate.index(4)
[1] "i001.002" "i001.003" "i001.004" "i002.003" "i002.004" "i003.004"

Note that I corrected the range of the outer (i) loop.

I hope this helps,
 John

--------------------------------
John Fox
Department of Sociology
McMaster University
Hamilton, Ontario
Canada L8S 4M4
905-525-9140x23604
http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/jfox 
--------------------------------

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [hidden email]
> [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Dominik Heier
> Sent: Saturday, February 04, 2006 6:57 PM
> To: Taka Matzmoto
> Cc: [hidden email]
> Subject: Re: [R] saving a character vector
>
> Am Samstag, den 04.02.2006, 17:46 -0600 schrieb Taka Matzmoto:
> > Hi R users
> >
> > I wrote a function that generates some character strings.
> >
> > generate.index<-function(n.item){
> > for (i in 1:n.item)
> >     {
> >         for (j in ((i+1):n.item))
> >             {
> >                
> >
> cat("i",formatC(i,digits=2,flag="0"),".",formatC(j,digits=2,flag="0"),
> > "\n",sep="")
>    ^
> replace "cat" with "return"
> >             }
> >
> >     }
> >                                 }
> >
> > I like to save what appears on the screen when I run using
> > generate.index(10) as a character vector
> >
> > I used
> > temp <- generate.index(10)
> >
> > but it didn't work.
> >
> > Could you provide some advice on this issue?
> >
> > Thanks in advance
> >
> > TM
> >
> > ______________________________________________
> > [hidden email] mailing list
> > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> > PLEASE do read the posting guide!
> > http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>
> ______________________________________________
> [hidden email] mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide!
> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html

______________________________________________
[hidden email] mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html

[Dominik-3-2]

Sorry. Forget my last post. I seem to be brain dead. Going to bed now
(its late in Germany). Sorry again..



Am Sonntag, den 05.02.2006, 00:56 +0100 schrieb Dominik Heier:

> Am Samstag, den 04.02.2006, 17:46 -0600 schrieb Taka Matzmoto:
> > Hi R users
> >
> > I wrote a function that generates some character strings.
> >
> > generate.index<-function(n.item){
> > for (i in 1:n.item)
> >     {
> >         for (j in ((i+1):n.item))
> >             {
> >                
> > cat("i",formatC(i,digits=2,flag="0"),".",formatC(j,digits=2,flag="0"),"\n",sep="")
>    ^
> replace "cat" with "return"

    ^
WRONG!! Append it to an array or list and return it at the end of the
function (wich R does by its self)

> >             }
> >
> >     }
> >                                 }
> >
> > I like to save what appears on the screen when I run using
> > generate.index(10) as a character vector
> >
> > I used
> > temp <- generate.index(10)
> >
> > but it didn't work.
> >
> > Could you provide some advice on this issue?
> >
> > Thanks in advance
> >
> > TM
> >
> > ______________________________________________
> > [hidden email] mailing list
> > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> > PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>
> ______________________________________________
> [hidden email] mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html

______________________________________________
[hidden email] mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html

[Ferdinand Alimadhi]

In order to use something like
temp<-generate.index(10)
your function should return something.
See ?return for more information, especially this
     If the end of a function is reached without calling 'return', the
     value of the last evaluated expression is returned.

The following code might be what you want.  (P.S Simple replacing cat
with return will not work because return requires expression as "argument")

HTH

generate.index<-function(n.item){
  res<-""
  for (i in 1:n.item)
    {
      for (j in ((i+1):n.item))
        {
         
         
res<-paste(res,"i",formatC(i,digits=2,flag="0"),".",formatC(j,digits=2,flag="0"),"\n",sep="")
         
        }
     
    }
  return(res)
}




Dominik Heier wrote:

>Am Samstag, den 04.02.2006, 17:46 -0600 schrieb Taka Matzmoto:
>  
>
>>Hi R users
>>
>>I wrote a function that generates some character strings.
>>
>>generate.index<-function(n.item){
>>for (i in 1:n.item)
>>    {
>>        for (j in ((i+1):n.item))
>>            {
>>                
>>cat("i",formatC(i,digits=2,flag="0"),".",formatC(j,digits=2,flag="0"),"\n",sep="")
>>    
>>
>   ^
>replace "cat" with "return"
>  
>
>>            }
>>
>>    }
>>                                }
>>
>>I like to save what appears on the screen when I run using
>>generate.index(10) as a character vector
>>
>>I used
>>temp <- generate.index(10)
>>
>>but it didn't work.
>>
>>Could you provide some advice on this issue?
>>
>>Thanks in advance
>>
>>TM
>>
>>______________________________________________
>>[hidden email] mailing list
>>https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>>PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>>    
>>
>
>______________________________________________
>[hidden email] mailing list
>https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>  
>

--
Ferdinand Alimadhi
Programmer / Analyst
Harvard University
The Institute for Quantitative Social Science
[phone]
[hidden email]
www.iq.harvard.edu


        [[alternative HTML version deleted]]

______________________________________________
[hidden email] mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html

[jholtman]

Is this what you want?  It returns a character vector with the values:

> generate.index<-function(n.item){
+ .return <- character()  # initialize vector
+ for (i in 1:n.item)
+    {
+        for (j in ((i+1):n.item))
+            {
+ # concatenate the results
+ .return <- c(.return,
paste("i",formatC(i,digits=2,flag="0"),".",formatC(j,digits=2,flag="0"),sep=""))
+
+            }
+
+    }
+    .return
+  }
>
>
> generate.index(10)
 [1] "i001.002" "i001.003" "i001.004" "i001.005" "i001.006" "i001.007"
 [7] "i001.008" "i001.009" "i001.010" "i002.003" "i002.004" "i002.005"
[13] "i002.006" "i002.007" "i002.008" "i002.009" "i002.010" "i003.004"
[19] "i003.005" "i003.006" "i003.007" "i003.008" "i003.009" "i003.010"
[25] "i004.005" "i004.006" "i004.007" "i004.008" "i004.009" "i004.010"
[31] "i005.006" "i005.007" "i005.008" "i005.009" "i005.010" "i006.007"
[37] "i006.008" "i006.009" "i006.010" "i007.008" "i007.009" "i007.010"
[43] "i008.009" "i008.010" "i009.010" "i010.011" "i010.010"
>



On 2/4/06, Taka Matzmoto <[hidden email]> wrote:

>
> Hi R users
>
> I wrote a function that generates some character strings.
>
> generate.index<-function(n.item){
> for (i in 1:n.item)
>    {
>        for (j in ((i+1):n.item))
>            {
>
>
> cat("i",formatC(i,digits=2,flag="0"),".",formatC(j,digits=2,flag="0"),"\n",sep="")
>
>            }
>
>    }
>                                }
>
> I like to save what appears on the screen when I run using
> generate.index(10) as a character vector
>
> I used
> temp <- generate.index(10)
>
> but it didn't work.
>
> Could you provide some advice on this issue?
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> TM
>
> ______________________________________________
> [hidden email] mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide!
> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>

--
Jim Holtman
Cincinnati, OH
[phone]

What the problem you are trying to solve?

        [[alternative HTML version deleted]]

______________________________________________
[hidden email] mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html

[Philippe Grosjean]

If I understand the question correctly, both Jim Holtman's and John
Fox's answers are correct solutions. However, they are not optimal ones
(that was not the question -optimize my code, please-, but one can talk
about it a little bit).

- Jim proposes (I rework a little bit his code):
generateIndex1 <- function(n.item) {
     Res <- character(0)  # initialize vector
     for (i in 1:(n.item - 1)) { # John Fox's correction introduced
         for (j in ((i+1):n.item)) {
             # concatenate the results
             Res <- c(Res, paste("i", formatC(i, digits = 2, flag = "0"),
                 ".", formatC(j, digits = 2, flag = "0"), sep = ""))
         }
     }
     Res
}

- John Fox proposes:
generateIndex2 <- function(n.item) {
     result <- rep("", n.item * (n.item - 1) / 2)
     index <- 0
     for (i in 1:(n.item - 1)) {
         for (j in ((i + 1):n.item)) {
             index <- index + 1
             result[index] <- paste("i",
                 formatC(i, digits = 2, flag = "0"), ".",
                 formatC(j, digits = 2, flag = "0"), sep = "")
         }
     }
     result
}

The difference is that Jim creates an empty character vector and
concatenate to it (simplest code), and John creates a vector of empty
characters of the correct size [result <- rep("", n.item * (n.item - 1)
/ 2)]. The second solution is supposed to be better, because "result" is
supposed to be of the right size, limiting useless memory pagination
inside each loop iteration. However:

 > system.time(generateIndex1(100))
[1] 4.86 0.00 4.86   NA   NA
 > system.time(generateIndex2(100))
[1] 4.68 0.00 4.68   NA   NA

There is not much difference (well, indeed, the loops and what's
calculated repreatedly inside takes much more time in this case).
However, I wonder what happens if I allocate a vector of the right size
with strings having also the right size:

generateIndex3 <- function(n.item) {
     result <- rep("i000.000", n.item * (n.item - 1) / 2)
     index <- 0
     for (i in 1:(n.item - 1)) {
         for (j in ((i + 1):n.item)) {
             index <- index + 1
             result[index] <- paste("i",
                 formatC(i, digits = 2, flag = "0"), ".",
                 formatC(j, digits = 2, flag = "0"), sep = "")
         }
     }
     result
}

 > system.time(generateIndex3(100))
[1] 4.63 0.02 4.66   NA   NA

... About the same. **Could someone explain me here, please?**

Now, where is the bottleneck?

 > Rprof()
 > res <- generateIndex3(100)
 > Rprof(NULL)
 > ?summaryRprof
 > summaryRprof()
$by.self
                    self.time self.pct total.time total.pct
formatC                 0.48     10.5       4.30      93.9
paste                   0.46     10.0       4.54      99.1
pmax                    0.44      9.6       0.66      14.4
as.integer              0.30      6.6       0.34       7.4
as.logical              0.24      5.2       0.34       7.4
names                   0.20      4.4       0.24       5.2
...

Gosh! For sure: Why do I call FormatC() every time twice in the loop? I
can increase speed by formatting my character strings only once!

generateIndex4 <- function(n.item) {
     result <- rep("i000.000", n.item * (n.item - 1) / 2)
     index <- 0
     id <- formatC(1:n.item, digits = 2, flag = "0")
     for (i in 1:(n.item - 1)) {
         for (j in ((i + 1):n.item)) {
             index <- index + 1
             result[index] <- paste("i", id[i], ".", id[j], sep = "")
         }
     }
     result
}

 > system.time(generateIndex4(100))
[1] 0.33 0.00 0.33   NA   NA

Yes! That's much better.
Now, recall that it is better to use a vectorized algorithm than loops,
could I get rid of these two ugly loops? Here is something using outer()
and lower.tri():

generateIndex5 <- function(n.item) {
     idx <- function(x, y) paste("i", x, ".", y, sep = "")
     id <- formatC(1:n.item, digits = 2, flag = "0")
     allidx <- t(outer(id, id, idx))
     allidx[lower.tri(allidx)]
}

 > system.time(generateIndex5(100))
[1] 0.02 0.00 0.02   NA   NA

Indeed! That code is much, much faster!
Now, let's compare generateIndex1() with generateIndex5().

- generateIndex5() is optimized for speed (4.86/0.02, about 250 times
faster!)

- generateIndex5() is more concise code: 4 lines, no loops, compared to
8 lines with two loops.

- but... generateIndex1() is the code that comes to mind more easily
(except, perhaps for some R experts (?) because thinking with vectors is
their second nature).

- but... generateIndex1() is much easier to understand, when someone
else read the code (for the same reason).

Final conclusion:
generateIndex5() is a better R code (I am sure one can do even better!),
but it is a little bit more intellectual work to arrive to this result
(i.e., rethink the problem using matrix calculation). However, the
result is worth the effort.

(note: this will be introduced in the future R Wiki. This is the reson
why this email is so long: I took a good occasion to speak about code
optimization).

Best,

Philippe Grosjean

..............................................<°}))><........
  ) ) ) ) )
( ( ( ( (    Prof. Philippe Grosjean
  ) ) ) ) )
( ( ( ( (    Numerical Ecology of Aquatic Systems
  ) ) ) ) )   Mons-Hainaut University, Pentagone (3D08)
( ( ( ( (
..............................................................

jim holtman wrote:

> Is this what you want?  It returns a character vector with the values:
>
>
>>generate.index<-function(n.item){
>
> + .return <- character()  # initialize vector
> + for (i in 1:n.item)
> +    {
> +        for (j in ((i+1):n.item))
> +            {
> + # concatenate the results
> + .return <- c(.return,
> paste("i",formatC(i,digits=2,flag="0"),".",formatC(j,digits=2,flag="0"),sep=""))
> +
> +            }
> +
> +    }
> +    .return
> +  }
>
>>
>>generate.index(10)
>
>  [1] "i001.002" "i001.003" "i001.004" "i001.005" "i001.006" "i001.007"
>  [7] "i001.008" "i001.009" "i001.010" "i002.003" "i002.004" "i002.005"
> [13] "i002.006" "i002.007" "i002.008" "i002.009" "i002.010" "i003.004"
> [19] "i003.005" "i003.006" "i003.007" "i003.008" "i003.009" "i003.010"
> [25] "i004.005" "i004.006" "i004.007" "i004.008" "i004.009" "i004.010"
> [31] "i005.006" "i005.007" "i005.008" "i005.009" "i005.010" "i006.007"
> [37] "i006.008" "i006.009" "i006.010" "i007.008" "i007.009" "i007.010"
> [43] "i008.009" "i008.010" "i009.010" "i010.011" "i010.010"
>
>
>
>
> On 2/4/06, Taka Matzmoto <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>>Hi R users
>>
>>I wrote a function that generates some character strings.
>>
>>generate.index<-function(n.item){
>>for (i in 1:n.item)
>>   {
>>       for (j in ((i+1):n.item))
>>           {
>>
>>
>>cat("i",formatC(i,digits=2,flag="0"),".",formatC(j,digits=2,flag="0"),"\n",sep="")
>>
>>           }
>>
>>   }
>>                               }
>>
>>I like to save what appears on the screen when I run using
>>generate.index(10) as a character vector
>>
>>I used
>>temp <- generate.index(10)
>>
>>but it didn't work.
>>
>>Could you provide some advice on this issue?
>>
>>Thanks in advance
>>
>>TM
>>
>>______________________________________________
>>[hidden email] mailing list
>>https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>>PLEASE do read the posting guide!
>>http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Jim Holtman
> Cincinnati, OH
> [phone]
>
> What the problem you are trying to solve?
>
> [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
> ______________________________________________
> [hidden email] mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>
>

______________________________________________
[hidden email] mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html