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Asked: 2026-06-05T02:06:43+00:00

this seems to be rather easy, but it keeps my busy since a while.

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this seems to be rather easy, but it keeps my busy since a while.

I have a dataframe (df) with n columns and a vector with the same number (n) of values.

The values in the vector are thresholds for the observations in the columns in the dataframe. So the clue is, how to tell R to use different thresholds for each column?

I want to keep all the observations in the dataframe which fulfill the various thresholds for each column (above or below, doesnt matter in the example). The observations which do not fulfill the threshold criterion should be set to 0.

I dont want a subset of the dataframe.

Can anyone help? Thanks a lot in advance.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Given some example data and thresholds

    set.seed(42)
dat <- data.frame(matrix(runif(100), ncol = 10))

## thresholds
thresh <- seq(0.5, 0.95, length.out = 10)
thresh

    we can use the mapply() function to work out which observations in each column (in this) are greater than or equal to the threshold. Using those indices, we can replace the values corresponding to the indices with 0 via:

    dat[mapply(">=", dat, thresh)] <- 0

    Here is the call in action:

    > dat
          X1        X2         X3          X4         X5
1  0.9148060 0.4577418 0.90403139 0.737595618 0.37955924
2  0.9370754 0.7191123 0.13871017 0.811055141 0.43577158
3  0.2861395 0.9346722 0.98889173 0.388108283 0.03743103
4  0.8304476 0.2554288 0.94666823 0.685169729 0.97353991
5  0.6417455 0.4622928 0.08243756 0.003948339 0.43175125
6  0.5190959 0.9400145 0.51421178 0.832916080 0.95757660
7  0.7365883 0.9782264 0.39020347 0.007334147 0.88775491
8  0.1346666 0.1174874 0.90573813 0.207658973 0.63997877
9  0.6569923 0.4749971 0.44696963 0.906601408 0.97096661
10 0.7050648 0.5603327 0.83600426 0.611778643 0.61883821
           X6        X7          X8         X9          X10
1  0.33342721 0.6756073 0.042988796 0.58160400 0.6674265147
2  0.34674825 0.9828172 0.140479094 0.15790521 0.0002388966
3  0.39848541 0.7595443 0.216385415 0.35902831 0.2085699569
4  0.78469278 0.5664884 0.479398564 0.64563188 0.9330341273
5  0.03893649 0.8496897 0.197410342 0.77582336 0.9256447486
6  0.74879539 0.1894739 0.719355838 0.56364684 0.7340943010
7  0.67727683 0.2712866 0.007884739 0.23370340 0.3330719834
8  0.17126433 0.8281585 0.375489965 0.08998052 0.5150633298
9  0.26108796 0.6932048 0.514407708 0.08561206 0.7439746463
10 0.51441293 0.2405447 0.001570554 0.30521837 0.6191592400
> dat[mapply(">=", dat, thresh)] <- 0
> dat
          X1        X2         X3          X4         X5
1  0.0000000 0.4577418 0.00000000 0.000000000 0.37955924
2  0.0000000 0.0000000 0.13871017 0.000000000 0.43577158
3  0.2861395 0.0000000 0.00000000 0.388108283 0.03743103
4  0.0000000 0.2554288 0.00000000 0.000000000 0.00000000
5  0.0000000 0.4622928 0.08243756 0.003948339 0.43175125
6  0.0000000 0.0000000 0.51421178 0.000000000 0.00000000
7  0.0000000 0.0000000 0.39020347 0.007334147 0.00000000
8  0.1346666 0.1174874 0.00000000 0.207658973 0.63997877
9  0.0000000 0.4749971 0.44696963 0.000000000 0.00000000
10 0.0000000 0.0000000 0.00000000 0.611778643 0.61883821
           X6        X7          X8         X9          X10
1  0.33342721 0.6756073 0.042988796 0.58160400 0.6674265147
2  0.34674825 0.0000000 0.140479094 0.15790521 0.0002388966
3  0.39848541 0.7595443 0.216385415 0.35902831 0.2085699569
4  0.00000000 0.5664884 0.479398564 0.64563188 0.9330341273
5  0.03893649 0.0000000 0.197410342 0.77582336 0.9256447486
6  0.74879539 0.1894739 0.719355838 0.56364684 0.7340943010
7  0.67727683 0.2712866 0.007884739 0.23370340 0.3330719834
8  0.17126433 0.0000000 0.375489965 0.08998052 0.5150633298
9  0.26108796 0.6932048 0.514407708 0.08561206 0.7439746463
10 0.51441293 0.2405447 0.001570554 0.30521837 0.6191592400

    It is instructive to notice what mapply() returns in this case:

    > mapply(">=", dat, thresh)
         X1    X2    X3    X4    X5    X6    X7    X8    X9   X10
 [1,]  TRUE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
 [2,]  TRUE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE
 [3,] FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
 [4,]  TRUE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
 [5,]  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE
 [6,]  TRUE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
 [7,]  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
 [8,] FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE
 [9,]  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
[10,]  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE

    and it is those logical values that are used to select the observations that meet the threshold. You can a different binary operator to the one I used; see ?">" for the various options. When writing the mapply() call, think of it in terms of left-hand-side and right-hand-side of the binary operator, such that an mapply() call would give:

    mapply(">", lhs, rhs)

    where we might write

    lhs > rhs

    Update: As @DWin has answered the comment about two thresholds I will update my Answer to match.

    thresh1 <- seq(0.05, 0.5, length.out = 10)
thresh2 <- seq(0.55, 0.95, length.out = 10)
set.seed(42)
dat <- data.frame(matrix(runif(100), ncol = 10))

l1 <- mapply(">", dat, thresh1)
l2 <- mapply("<", dat, thresh2)

    We can see which elements match both constraints:

    > l1 & l2
         X1    X2    X3    X4    X5    X6    X7    X8    X9   X10
 [1,] FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE
 [2,] FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
 [3,]  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE
 [4,] FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE
 [5,] FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE
 [6,]  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE
 [7,] FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
 [8,]  TRUE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE
 [9,] FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE
[10,] FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE

    and the same construct can be used to select those elements that match:

    dat[l1 & l2] <- 0
dat

> dat
          X1        X2         X3          X4         X5         X6        X7          X8
1  0.9148060 0.0000000 0.90403139 0.737595618 0.00000000 0.00000000 0.0000000 0.042988796
2  0.9370754 0.7191123 0.13871017 0.811055141 0.00000000 0.00000000 0.9828172 0.140479094
3  0.0000000 0.9346722 0.98889173 0.000000000 0.03743103 0.00000000 0.0000000 0.216385415
4  0.8304476 0.0000000 0.94666823 0.685169729 0.97353991 0.78469278 0.0000000 0.000000000
5  0.6417455 0.0000000 0.08243756 0.003948339 0.00000000 0.03893649 0.8496897 0.197410342
6  0.0000000 0.9400145 0.00000000 0.832916080 0.95757660 0.00000000 0.1894739 0.000000000
7  0.7365883 0.9782264 0.00000000 0.007334147 0.88775491 0.00000000 0.2712866 0.007884739
8  0.0000000 0.0000000 0.90573813 0.000000000 0.00000000 0.17126433 0.8281585 0.375489965
9  0.6569923 0.0000000 0.00000000 0.906601408 0.97096661 0.26108796 0.0000000 0.000000000
10 0.7050648 0.0000000 0.83600426 0.000000000 0.00000000 0.00000000 0.2405447 0.001570554
           X9          X10
1  0.00000000 0.0000000000
2  0.15790521 0.0002388966
3  0.35902831 0.2085699569
4  0.00000000 0.0000000000
5  0.00000000 0.0000000000
6  0.00000000 0.0000000000
7  0.23370340 0.3330719834
8  0.08998052 0.0000000000
9  0.08561206 0.0000000000
10 0.30521837 0.0000000000
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