Get Numeric Variables

Extracts numeric variables from a data frame.

Usage

getNumVars(data, Ordinal = FALSE, DataFrame = lifecycle::deprecated())

Arguments

data

The data frame from which to extract numeric variables.

Ordinal

Logical, indicating whether to include ordinal variables.

DataFrame

Deprecated (since 19.15.0). Use data instead.

Value

A character vector containing the names of numeric variables.

Details

The variable-selector helpers exist so that a variable set is derived from the data rather than typed out and left to drift. getNumVars(), getCatVars(), and getBinaryVars() partition a labelled data frame the way the analysis functions expect, and each takes an Ordinal argument because an ordered factor can legitimately count as either continuous or categorical depending on the analysis.

Run them on a frame that has already been through RevalueData(). Before relabelling, a 0/1 diagnosis is still numeric and would be picked up here as continuous.

See also

getCatVars(), getBinaryVars(), and ConvertOrdinalToNumeric() for the ordinal policy these share.

Examples

data(SampleData)
data(SampleVariableTypes)

Labelled <- RevalueData(SampleData, SampleVariableTypes)$RevaluedData

# 128 numeric columns: age plus the biomarker panel
vars_Numeric <- getNumVars(Labelled)
length(vars_Numeric)
#> [1] 128
utils::head(vars_Numeric)
#> [1] "age"                             "ACE_CD143_Angiotensin_Converti" 
#> [3] "ACTH_Adrenocorticotropic_Hormon" "AXL"                            
#> [5] "Adiponectin"                     "Alpha_1_Antichymotrypsin"       

# Ordinal variables are excluded by default; include them when they should
# be modelled on their numeric scale.
length(getNumVars(Labelled, Ordinal = TRUE))
#> [1] 128

# The point of deriving the set: it feeds straight into an analysis without
# a hand-typed vector that can fall out of date.
MakeTable1(Labelled, variables = utils::head(vars_Numeric, 5))


  
Characteristic
      
N = 3331
    
Age
72 (13)
    Unknown
11
Angiotensin-converting enzyme
1.32 (0.55)
Adrenocorticotropic hormone
-1.54 (0.27)
AXL receptor tyrosine kinase
0.30 (0.45)
Adiponectin
-5.22 (0.67)
1 Mean (SD)