R help - Jun 2009 - Hmisc summarize() with level "" in by variable

I was using summarize() in a data set in which one of the levels of
the by variable was "".  The summary statistic was consistently off by
one level and the "" level was not in the output data frame.  I tried
to report it as a bug, but I could not log into the Hmisc bug
reporting website to do so.  I searched for this in the email
archives.  If it's there, I failed to find it.  Should I try to pursue
this as a bug, or am I using summarize incorrectly?  Here is my
example along with the output:
> tst1 <- data.frame(a=factor(c("", "A",
"B", "C")),
+                   x=1:4)
> tst1
  a x
1   1
2 A 2
3 B 3
4 C 4
> with(tst1, summarize(x, by=llist(a), FUN=mean))
  a x
1 A 1
2 B 2
3 C 3
> with(tst1, aggregate(x, by=list(a), FUN=mean))
  Group.1 x
1         1
2       A 2
3       B 3
4       C 4
> sessionInfo()
R version 2.9.0 (2009-04-17)
i486-pc-linux-gnu

locale:
LC_CTYPE=en_US;LC_NUMERIC=C;LC_TIME=en_US;LC_COLLATE=en_US;LC_MONETARY=C;LC_MESSAGES=en_US;LC_PAPER=en_US;LC_NAME=C;LC_ADDRESS=C;LC_TELEPHONE=C;LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US;LC_IDENTIFICATION=C

attached base packages:
[1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base

other attached packages:
[1] Hmisc_3.6-0

loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
[1] cluster_1.11.13 grid_2.9.0      lattice_0.17-22


Michael

Sorry about the bug, which is now fixed.  You can get the fix by entering

source('http://biostat.mc.vanderbilt.edu/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/*checkout*/Hmisc/trunk/R/summary.formula.s?rev=661')

until we update the package.

Frank


Michael Erickson wrote:
> I was using summarize() in a data set in which one of the levels of
> the by variable was "".  The summary statistic was consistently
off by
> one level and the "" level was not in the output data frame.  I
tried
> to report it as a bug, but I could not log into the Hmisc bug
> reporting website to do so.  I searched for this in the email
> archives.  If it's there, I failed to find it.  Should I try to pursue
> this as a bug, or am I using summarize incorrectly?  Here is my
> example along with the output:
> 
>> tst1 <- data.frame(a=factor(c("", "A",
"B", "C")),
> +                   x=1:4)
>> tst1
>   a x
> 1   1
> 2 A 2
> 3 B 3
> 4 C 4
>> with(tst1, summarize(x, by=llist(a), FUN=mean))
>   a x
> 1 A 1
> 2 B 2
> 3 C 3
>> with(tst1, aggregate(x, by=list(a), FUN=mean))
>   Group.1 x
> 1         1
> 2       A 2
> 3       B 3
> 4       C 4
> 
>> sessionInfo()
> R version 2.9.0 (2009-04-17)
> i486-pc-linux-gnu
> 
> locale:
>
LC_CTYPE=en_US;LC_NUMERIC=C;LC_TIME=en_US;LC_COLLATE=en_US;LC_MONETARY=C;LC_MESSAGES=en_US;LC_PAPER=en_US;LC_NAME=C;LC_ADDRESS=C;LC_TELEPHONE=C;LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US;LC_IDENTIFICATION=C
> 
> attached base packages:
> [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base
> 
> other attached packages:
> [1] Hmisc_3.6-0
> 
> loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
> [1] cluster_1.11.13 grid_2.9.0      lattice_0.17-22
> 
> 
> Michael
> 

-- 
Frank E Harrell Jr   Professor and Chair           School of Medicine
                      Department of Biostatistics   Vanderbilt University