CODEWITHSUNDEEP
rvector
NinjaR
NinjaR

Reputation: 623

Conditionally append the next element of a vector to the previous element

I have a vector having multiple values. If an element and the next do not have a period, I want to append the next element to the previous with a period. But the appended elements should no longer be present in the vector

a = c("135","00","85","6","0.00","6","0.00","0.00","85","61","0.00")

I want the result to be

"135.00","85.6","0.00","6","0.00","0.00","85.61","0.00"

Upvotes: 1

Views: 184

Answers (1)

user1981275
user1981275

Reputation: 13372

Maybe not the most elegant, but here a solution with a while construct:

a <- c("135","00","85","6","0.00","6","0.00","0.00","85","61","0.00")

result <- character()
while(length(a) > 0) {

    ## pop first item from vector
    item <- a[1]
    a <- a[-1]

    ## if item contains dots, add to results
    if (grepl("\\.", item)) {
        result <- c(result, item)
    } else {        
        ## Otherise check if next item contains dot
        if (! grepl("\\.", a[1])) {
            ## if not, combine current and next item
            result <- c(result, paste(item, a[1], sep='.'))
            a <- a[-1]
        }
        else {
            ## otherwise return current item
            result <- c(result, item)
        }
    }    
}

Upvotes: 1

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