CODEWITHSUNDEEP
rassign
exteral
exteral

Reputation: 1061

Assign values to a name within a function

Here is my code:

get_test <- function(name){
  data <- filter(data_all_country,country == name)
  # transform the data to a time series using `ts` in `stats`
  data <- ts(data$investment, start = 1950)
  data <- log(data)
  rule <- substitute(name)
  assign(rule,data)
}

As in the code, I try to build a function by which I could input a country's name given in character string, and then the variable named by the country would be generated automatically. However, I run this code, and it runs but with no exact variable generated as I want. For example, I want to have a variable called Albania in the environment after I code get_test("Albania").

I wonder why?

Ps: And the dataset of data_all_country is as following:

    year country investment
1 1950 Albania         NA
2 1951 Albania         NA
3 1952 Albania         NA
4 1953 Albania         NA
5 1954 Albania         NA
6 1955 Albania         NA

Note that the dataset is OK, just some of it is NA

Upvotes: 1

Views: 237

Answers (1)

kangaroo_cliff
kangaroo_cliff

Reputation: 6222

I think you have to specify the environment for assign, else it will use the current environment (in this case within the function).

You could use 

assign(name, data, envir = .GlobalEnv)

or

assign(name, data, pos = 1)

Upvotes: 3

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