R help - Dec 2007 - ifelse problem

Could someone help me with the following code snippet.  The results are not
what I expect:
> Sheet1$Claims[1:10]
 [1] NA  1  2 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
> Sheet1[1:10,"SubmissionStatus"]
 [1] Declined  Bound     Bound     Bound     Bound     Bound     Declined 
Dead      Declined 
[10] Not Taken
Levels: Bound Dead Declined Not Taken
> Sheet1$Claimsnum <- NA
> Sheet1$Claimsnum <- ifelse(Sheet1$SubmissionStatus !=
"Bound",99999,
+                     
ifelse(as.character(Sheet1$Claims)=="NA",0,Sheet1$Claims))
> 
> Sheet1$Claimsnum[1:10]
 [1] 99999     1     2    NA    NA    NA 99999 99999 99999
99999
> 
Here is Str(Sheet1)

 $ Claims                     : num  NA 1 2 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA ...
 $ SubmissionStatus           : Factor w/ 4 levels
"Bound","Dead",..: 3 1 1
1 1 1 3 2 3 4 ...


I would expect Sheet1$Claimsnum[4] to be 0, since the true condition of the
2nd ifelse evaluations to 0.
Without the "as.character" the results are still not the way I want
them:
> Sheet1$Claimsnum <- ifelse(Sheet1$SubmissionStatus !=
"Bound",99999,
+                     
ifelse(Sheet1$Claims==NA,0,Sheet1$Claims))
> Sheet1$Claimsnum[1:10]
 [1] 99999    NA    NA    NA    NA    NA 99999 99999 99999
99999
> 
Much thanks!,

Randy



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To check for NA, use is.na. For instance your second ifelse should read:

ifelse(is.na(Sheet1$Claims),0,Sheet1$Claims))

Converting Sheet1$Claims to character doesn't have the effect you  
think it does. NA is still NA, it does not become "NA". Try for  
instance:

as.character(NA)
as.character(NA) == "NA"

Haris Skiadas
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Hanover College

On Dec 20, 2007, at 10:26 AM, Randy Walters wrote:
>
> Could someone help me with the following code snippet.  The results  
> are not
> what I expect:
>
>> Sheet1$Claims[1:10]
>  [1] NA  1  2 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
>
>> Sheet1[1:10,"SubmissionStatus"]
>  [1] Declined  Bound     Bound     Bound     Bound     Bound      
> Declined
> Dead      Declined
> [10] Not Taken
> Levels: Bound Dead Declined Not Taken
>
>> Sheet1$Claimsnum <- NA
>> Sheet1$Claimsnum <- ifelse(Sheet1$SubmissionStatus !=
"Bound",99999,
> +
> ifelse(as.character(Sheet1$Claims)=="NA",0,Sheet1$Claims))
>>
>> Sheet1$Claimsnum[1:10]
>  [1] 99999     1     2    NA    NA    NA 99999 99999 99999 99999
>>
>
> Here is Str(Sheet1)
>
>  $ Claims                     : num  NA 1 2 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA ...
>  $ SubmissionStatus           : Factor w/ 4 levels  
> "Bound","Dead",..: 3 1 1
> 1 1 1 3 2 3 4 ...
>
>
> I would expect Sheet1$Claimsnum[4] to be 0, since the true  
> condition of the
> 2nd ifelse evaluations to 0.
> Without the "as.character" the results are still not the way I
want
> them:
>
>> Sheet1$Claimsnum <- ifelse(Sheet1$SubmissionStatus !=
"Bound",99999,
> +                      ifelse(Sheet1$Claims==NA,0,Sheet1$Claims))
>> Sheet1$Claimsnum[1:10]
>  [1] 99999    NA    NA    NA    NA    NA 99999 99999 99999 99999
>>
>
> Much thanks!,
>
> Randy
>
>
>
> -- 
> View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/ifelse-problem- 
> tp14438449p14438449.html
> Sent from the R help mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>