[R] Coercing a list of variables in a function call

[Dimitris Rizopoulos]

try the following:

model.it <- function (form, data, factor.id) {
     if (!missing(factor.id) && all(factor.id %in% names(data)))
         data[factor.id] <- lapply(data[factor.id], factor)
     glm(form, data = data)
}

y <- c(1,2.1,3.3,4.3,5,6.5)
x1 <- c(1,1,1,2,2,2)
x2 <- c(1,2,3,1,2,3)
x3 <- c(1,3,2,4,2,4)
d <- data.frame(y, x1, x2, x3)

model.it(y ~ x1 + x2 + x3, d, c("x1", "x2"))
model.it(y ~ x1 + x2 + x3, d)


If you only plan to fit linear regression models, then it is advisable 
that you lm() instead of glm(). I hope it helps.

Best,
Dimitris


Philip Whittall wrote:
> This is hopefully a trivial problem for list subscribers, but I am very
> new to writing R functions.
> I wish to call an R function written by myself from another program to
> fit a model. I need
> to tell it which of the independent variables are factors. I need to do
> this in a generic way, 
> so that when the list is passed, R will work through the variables in
> the data frame and coerce them into being factors.
> 
> This is what I tried ...
> 
> # Fictitious data for illustration
> y<-c(1,2.1,3.3,4.3,5,6.5)
> x1<-c(1,1,1,2,2,2)
> x2<-c(1,2,3,1,2,3)
> x3<-c(1,3,2,4,2,4)
> d<-as.data.frame(cbind(y,x1,x2,x3))
> #Function definition
> model_it=function(data=" ", model=" ", factors=list()){
>          attach(d) #Attach the data
>          formula<-as.formula(model) #Set up the model
> #Identify the factors
>          if (length(factors)>0) for(i in 1:length(factors)){
>                                    factors[i]<-as.factor(factors[i])
>                                    }
> #Fit the model
>          glm(formula, data=data)
> }
> #Function call attempted
> model_it(data=d, model="y~x1+x2+x3", factors=list(x1,x2)) 
> 
> And this is the error message I received ...
> 
> Error in sort.list(unique.default(x), na.last = TRUE) : 
>   'x' must be atomic for 'sort.list'
> Have you called 'sort' on a list?
> 
> The line factors[i]<-as.factor(factors[i]) is the one responsible for
> the error. 
>>From the word 'atomic', my guess is that I have asked it to set each
> value as a factor rather than the variable, but I don't know
> what syntax to use to get it to set the variable as a factor. Any
> suggestions gratefully appreciated.
> 
> For the record, the above was run on windows XP using R2.8.0
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Dimitris Rizopoulos
Assistant Professor
Department of Biostatistics
Erasmus Medical Center

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