R help - Mar 2010 - simple data transformation question

Hi all, 
I have a (hopefully) simple newbie-level question. 
 
# I have data like this:
dtf <- data.frame(read.table(textConnection("var  value
  company  9887.1
  company  91117.0
  blaah  91.1
  etc  11
  etc  97111"), header=TRUE))
 
# I would like to have output like this (the index number may vary):
var  value.1 value.2
company 9887.1 91117.0
blah  91.1 NA
etc 11 97111
 
# I tried the following.
library(reshape)
cast(dtf, var~value, mean) # 'mean' because some function needs to be
specified.
... this does not what I want, nor does t(dtf).
 
Can somebody help me with the correct transformation, or at least with which
function to use best? Thank you in advance!

Cheers!!
Albert-Jan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


      
	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

Try this:

reshape(cbind(id = as.numeric(dtf$var), dtf, time =  with(dtf,
ave(value, var, FUN = seq))), timevar="time",
direction="wide")

Or:

 xtabs(value ~ var + ave(value, var, FUN = seq), data = dtf)

On Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 9:40 AM, Albert-Jan Roskam <fomcl at yahoo.com>
wrote:
> Hi all,
> I have a (hopefully) simple newbie-level question.
>
> # I have data like this:
> dtf <- data.frame(read.table(textConnection("var? value
> ? company? 9887.1
> ? company? 91117.0
> ? blaah? 91.1
> ? etc? 11
> ? etc? 97111"), header=TRUE))
>
> # I would like to have output like this (the index number may vary):
> var ?value.1?value.2
> company?9887.1?91117.0
> blah ?91.1?NA
> etc?11?97111
>
> # I tried the following.
> library(reshape)
> cast(dtf, var~value, mean) # 'mean' because some function needs to
be specified.
> ... this does not what I want, nor does t(dtf).
>
> Can somebody help me with the correct transformation, or at least with
which function to use best? Thank you in advance!
>
> Cheers!!
> Albert-Jan
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess.
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>
> ? ? ? ?[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>
>


-- 
Henrique Dallazuanna
Curitiba-Paran?-Brasil
25? 25' 40" S 49? 16' 22" O