[R] Use mapply or lapply to a nested list

[Ben Tupper]

You might be able to get mapply to work, but because your lists differ
in lengths you will get some recycling which may lead to mayhem for
you.  Below I have tried to simplify and clarify by naming the
elements of your lists, but I don't get 20 results.  I get 4 elements
(one for each k).  Each kth element has 2 elements (one for b1 and one
for b2).  And each of those varies by the size of the sample you have
requested. Does this get you closer?

k <- list(k1 = 1, k2 = 2, k3 = 4, k4 = 3)
b1 <- list(c(1,2,3),c(2,3,4),c(3,4,5),c(4,5,6))
b2 <- list(c(1,2),c(2,3),c(3,4),c(4,5), c(5,6))
bb <- list(b1  = b1, b2 = b2)

x <- sapply(k,
            function(ki, bb = NULL){
              sapply(bb,
                     function(b) {
                        lapply(b, function(x){
                           sample.int(x, size = ki, replace = TRUE)
                        })
                     }, simplify = FALSE, USE.NAMES = TRUE)
            }, bb = bb, simplify = FALSE, USE.NAMES = TRUE)

str(x)
# List of 4
#  $ k1:List of 2
#   ..$ b1:List of 4
#   .. ..$ : int 1
#   .. ..$ : int 1
#   .. ..$ : int 3
#   .. ..$ : int 4
#   ..$ b2:List of 5
#   .. ..$ : int 1
#   .. ..$ : int 1
#   .. ..$ : int 2
#   .. ..$ : int 1
#   .. ..$ : int 5
#  $ k2:List of 2
#   ..$ b1:List of 4
#   .. ..$ : int [1:2] 1 1
#   .. ..$ : int [1:2] 1 1
#   .. ..$ : int [1:2] 3 3
#   .. ..$ : int [1:2] 2 1
#   ..$ b2:List of 5
#   .. ..$ : int [1:2] 1 1
#   .. ..$ : int [1:2] 1 1
#   .. ..$ : int [1:2] 1 1
#   .. ..$ : int [1:2] 4 2
#   .. ..$ : int [1:2] 2 4
#  $ k3:List of 2
#   ..$ b1:List of 4
#   .. ..$ : int [1:4] 1 1 1 1
#   .. ..$ : int [1:4] 2 1 2 1
#   .. ..$ : int [1:4] 1 3 3 2
#   .. ..$ : int [1:4] 4 3 1 3
#   ..$ b2:List of 5
#   .. ..$ : int [1:4] 1 1 1 1
#   .. ..$ : int [1:4] 1 1 2 1
#   .. ..$ : int [1:4] 2 2 3 1
#   .. ..$ : int [1:4] 4 2 3 3
#   .. ..$ : int [1:4] 5 1 5 3
#  $ k4:List of 2
#   ..$ b1:List of 4
#   .. ..$ : int [1:3] 1 1 1
#   .. ..$ : int [1:3] 2 1 1
#   .. ..$ : int [1:3] 2 2 3
#   .. ..$ : int [1:3] 3 4 1
#   ..$ b2:List of 5
#   .. ..$ : int [1:3] 1 1 1
#   .. ..$ : int [1:3] 2 1 1
#   .. ..$ : int [1:3] 1 3 2
#   .. ..$ : int [1:3] 3 1 1
#   .. ..$ : int [1:3] 1 1 1

Cheers,
Ben

On Mon, Dec 21, 2020 at 2:35 PM Chao Liu <psychaoliu using gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I want to apply a sample function to a nested list (I will call this list
> `bb`) and I also have a list of numbers (I will call this list `k`) to be
> supplied in the sample function. I would like each of the numbers in k to
> iterate through all the values of each list in bb. How to do this using
> `mapply` or `lapply`?
>
> Here are the data:
> k <- list(1,2,4,3) #this is the list of numbers to be supplied in the `
> sample.int` function
> b1 <- list(c(1,2,3),c(2,3,4),c(3,4,5),c(4,5,6)) #The first list of bb
> b2 <- list(c(1,2),c(2,3),c(3,4),c(4,5), c(5,6)) #The second list of bb
> bb <- list(b1,b2) #This is list bb containing b1 and b2 whose values are to
> be iterated through
> ```
> I created this `mapply` function but it didn't get the expected outcome:
> mapply(function(x, y) {
>    x[sample.int(y,y, replace = TRUE)]
> }, bb,k, SIMPLIFY = FALSE)
> This only returns 10 output values but I would like each number of k to
> loop through all values of the two lists in `bb` and so there should be
> 10*2 outputs for the two lists in `bb`. I might be using `mapply` in the
> wrong way and so I would appreciate if anyone can point me to the right
> direction!
>
> Best,
> Chao
>
>         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
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-- 
Ben Tupper
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Science
East Boothbay, Maine
http://www.bigelow.org/
https://eco.bigelow.org