Question

I extracted a mixed variable which includes both numeric and string values from a data file using strsplit function. I ended up with a variable just as seen below:

> sample3

[[1]]
[1] "1200" "A"  

[[2]]
[1] "1193" "A"  

[[3]]
[1] "1117" "B"  

[[4]]
[1] "5663" 

[[5]]
[1] "7003" "C" 

[[6]]
[1] "1205" "A"  

[[7]]
[1] "2100" "D"  

[[8]]
[1] "1000" "D"  

[[9]]
[1]  "D" 

[[10]]
[1] "1000" "B"

I need to split this into two variables/vectors(or convert to a two-columned matrix). I tried to use unlist(sample3) code then put the all values into a matrix with ncol=2 however since there are some missing data points the result is not correct when I use this way. I think I need to solve missing data issue before putting into a two columned matrix. Does anyone have any idea on this issue? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Something like this will work

# dummy data
x <- list(c('100','a'), '100', c('a'), c('1000','b'))

numeric_x <- unlist(lapply(x,function(x) {.x <- head(x,1); as.numeric(.x)}))

character_x <- unlist(lapply(x,function(x) {.x <- tail(x,1); if(is.na(as.numeric(.x))) {return(.x)} else {return(NA)}}))

There will be a much nicer regex answer I am sure