Skip to content

if_else() is a vectorized if-else. Compared to the base R equivalent, ifelse(), this function allows you to handle missing values in the condition with missing and always takes true, false, and missing into account when determining what the output type should be.

Usage

if_else(condition, true, false, missing = NULL, ..., ptype = NULL, size = NULL)

Arguments

condition

A logical vector

true, false

Vectors to use for TRUE and FALSE values of condition.

Both true and false will be recycled to the size of condition.

true, false, and missing (if used) will be cast to their common type.

missing

If not NULL, will be used as the value for NA values of condition. Follows the same size and type rules as true and false.

...

These dots are for future extensions and must be empty.

ptype

An optional prototype declaring the desired output type. If supplied, this overrides the common type of true, false, and missing.

size

An optional size declaring the desired output size. If supplied, this overrides the size of condition.

Value

A vector with the same size as condition and the same type as the common type of true, false, and missing.

Where condition is TRUE, the matching values from true, where it is FALSE, the matching values from false, and where it is NA, the matching values from missing, if provided, otherwise a missing value will be used.

Examples

x <- c(-5:5, NA)
if_else(x < 0, NA, x)
#>  [1] NA NA NA NA NA  0  1  2  3  4  5 NA

# Explicitly handle `NA` values in the `condition` with `missing`
if_else(x < 0, "negative", "positive", missing = "missing")
#>  [1] "negative" "negative" "negative" "negative" "negative" "positive"
#>  [7] "positive" "positive" "positive" "positive" "positive" "missing" 

# Unlike `ifelse()`, `if_else()` preserves types
x <- factor(sample(letters[1:5], 10, replace = TRUE))
ifelse(x %in% c("a", "b", "c"), x, NA)
#>  [1]  1 NA  1  2  2 NA NA NA  1  2
if_else(x %in% c("a", "b", "c"), x, NA)
#>  [1] a    <NA> a    c    c    <NA> <NA> <NA> a    c   
#> Levels: a c d e

# `if_else()` is often useful for creating new columns inside of `mutate()`
starwars %>%
  mutate(category = if_else(height < 100, "short", "tall"), .keep = "used")
#> # A tibble: 87 × 2
#>    height category
#>     <int> <chr>   
#>  1    172 tall    
#>  2    167 tall    
#>  3     96 short   
#>  4    202 tall    
#>  5    150 tall    
#>  6    178 tall    
#>  7    165 tall    
#>  8     97 short   
#>  9    183 tall    
#> 10    182 tall    
#> # ℹ 77 more rows