Merge two variables

[malgro]

Hello
I am pretty new to R, and I am struggling with my dataset.
I have multiple variables from the ESS round 8 dataset containing information about the last party individuals voted for in the last national election. I have made them into dummy variables, depending on whether they voted for a green party or not. The problem is that they are divided by country, and I need them all to be in one single column in my dataset. Does anyone know how I could conduct such a command?

[andresrcs]

Hi!

To help us help you, could you please prepare a reproducible example (reprex) illustrating your issue? Please have a look at this guide, to see how to create one:

FAQ: How to do a minimal reproducible example ( reprex ) for beginners

A minimal reproducible example consists of the following items: A minimal dataset, necessary to reproduce the issue The minimal runnable code necessary to reproduce the issue, which can be run on the given dataset, and including the necessary information on the used packages. Let's quickly go over each one of these with examples: Minimal Dataset (Sample Data) You need to provide a data frame that is small enough to be (reasonably) pasted on a post, but big enough to reproduce your issue. Let's say, as an example, that you are working with the iris data frame head(iris) #> Sepal.Length Sepal.Width Petal.Length Petal.Width Species #> 1 5.1 3.5 1.4 0.…

[malgro]

So this is what I´ve tried to do so far (excuse the Norwegian names)

e$Stemtegrønt <- ifelse(e$Island == "1", 1, 
  ifelse(e$Belgia == "1", 1,
    ifelse(e$ValgØsterriket == "1", 1,
      ifelse(e$ValgTyskland1 == "1", 1,
        ifelse(e$ValgEstland == "1", 1,
          ifelse(e$ValgFinland == "1", 1,
            ifelse(e$ValgFrankrike == "1", 1,
              ifelse(e$ValgStorbritannia == "1", 1,
                ifelse(e$Irland == "1", 1,
                  ifelse(e$Island == "1", 1,
                    ifelse(e$ValgLitauen1 == "1", 1,
                      ifelse(e$ValgNederland == "1", 1,
                        ifelse(e$ValgNorge == "1", 1,
                          ifelse(e$ValRussland == "1", 1,
                            ifelse(e$ValgSverige == "1", 1,
                              ifelse(e$ValgSveits == "1",  1,
                                ifelse(e$ValgPortugal == "1", 1, 0, NA)))))))))))))))))

So I tried to make one single variable with all these individual ones, but I got an error code of unexpected symbol when I inserted the 0 and NA. I basically want to include both the yes and no answers (zero and one), and I also have to include all the NAs.

[nwerth]

Since you're new here, it might be helpful to know how to properly format code and console output that you post here. Using proper code formatting makes the site easier to read, prevents confusion (unformatted code can get garbled by the forum software ), and is generally considered the polite thing to do. Check out this FAQ to find out how — it's as easy as the click of a button! :

FAQ: How to format your code

Formatting Code: the Basics All code or console output you include in your posts should be formatted properly. Luckily, this is very easy to do! Just use the code formatting button at the top of the post editing box: [image] Select some code Click the </> button! The code formatting button automatically adds special Markdown formatting symbols to whatever you selected. If you check the preview pane to the right of your post, you'll see that the forum software now outputs nicely formatted code . [04] The code formatting button is pretty smart! It can tell the difference between snippets of code that are part of a sentence and blocks of code that stand alone. …

I've formatted your code and added some missing parentheses.

[nwerth]

ifelse is rarely the best way to do something. Nested ifelse calls are better served by using plain logical operators. Personally, I find they also make the code's purpose clear to anyone reading it.

e <- data.frame(
  Island = c("0", "1", NA),
  Belgia = c("0", "0", "0"),
  ValgØsterriket = c("0", "0", "0"),
  ValgTyskland1 = c("0", "0", "0"),
  ValgEstland = c("0", "0", "0"),
  ValgFinland = c("0", "0", "0"),
  ValgFrankrike = c("0", "0", "0"),
  ValgStorbritannia = c("0", "0", "0"),
  Irland = c("0", "0", "0"),
  ValgLitauen1 = c("0", "0", "0"),
  ValgNederland = c("0", "0", "0"),
  ValgNorge = c("0", "0", "0"),
  ValRussland = c("0", "0", "0"),
  ValgSverige = c("0", "0", "0"),
  ValgSveits = c("0", "0", "0"),
  ValgPortugal = c("0", "0", "0"),
  stringsAsFactors = FALSE
)


check_cols <- c(
  "Island", "Belgia", "ValgØsterriket", "ValgTyskland1",
  "ValgEstland", "ValgFinland", "ValgFrankrike",
  "ValgStorbritannia", "Irland", "ValgLitauen1",
  "ValgNederland", "ValgNorge", "ValRussland", "ValgSverige",
  "ValgSveits", "ValgPortugal"
)

is_one <- e[, check_cols] == "1"
row_has_one <- apply(is_one, MARGIN = 1, FUN = any)
row_has_na <- apply(e[, check_cols], MARGIN = 1, FUN = anyNA)
e$Stemtegrønt <- "0"
e$Stemtegrønt[row_has_one] <- "1"
e$Stemtegrønt[row_has_na] <- NA

e$Stemtegrønt
# [1] "0" "1" NA

Sticking to your code, I can't reproduce the exact error you mention (unexpected symbol), but I do get a different one:

ifelse(e$Island == "1", 1, 
  ifelse(e$Belgia == "1", 1,
    ifelse(e$ValgØsterriket == "1", 1,
      ifelse(e$ValgTyskland1 == "1", 1,
        ifelse(e$ValgEstland == "1", 1,
          ifelse(e$ValgFinland == "1", 1,
            ifelse(e$ValgFrankrike == "1", 1,
              ifelse(e$ValgStorbritannia == "1", 1,
                ifelse(e$Irland == "1", 1,
                  ifelse(e$Island == "1", 1,
                    ifelse(e$ValgLitauen1 == "1", 1,
                      ifelse(e$ValgNederland == "1", 1,
                        ifelse(e$ValgNorge == "1", 1,
                          ifelse(e$ValRussland == "1", 1,
                            ifelse(e$ValgSverige == "1", 1,
                              ifelse(e$ValgSveits == "1",  1,
                                ifelse(e$ValgPortugal == "1", 1, 0, NA)))))))))))))))))
# Error in ifelse(e$ValgPortugal == "1", 1, 0, NA) :
# unused argument (NA)

ifelse only takes three arguments: test, yes, and no. But your last ifelse has 4 arguments.

[malgro]

Oh, sorry! I am so new to R that everything is just so confusing at the moment. Thank you so much for your help btw, I´ve been struggling with this all day and I finally did it