Change the values ​of a vector based on proximity of quantile numbers

Question

i got this vector:

set.seed(123)
vector <- sort(sample(0:1000, 500, replace=FALSE))

and this quantile numbers of vector:

q <- quantile(vector, probs = seq(0,1,0.1))

  > 0%    10%    20%    30%    40%    50%    60%    70%    80%    90%   100% 
  > 4.0  102.6  191.6  292.4  390.6  480.5  598.2  698.6  796.6  900.1 1000.0 

My question is: how to make each element of the vector be replaced by the closest value of the quantile.

result vector: (something like this)

result = c(4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4......102.6,102.6,102.6,102.6,102.6,102.6,102.6,.....191.6......)

Answer 1

To get the closest value of the quantile you can use subtract each number with quantile and select the one which is closest one.

You can implement this using sapply

res <- unname(q[sapply(vector, function(x) which.min(abs(x - q)))])

Or with outer -

res <- unname(q[apply(abs(outer(vector, q, `-`)), 1, which.min)])

Answer 2

We can use findInterval

as.numeric(q[findInterval(vector, q)])

-output

 [1]    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0
 [22]    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0
 [43]    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0    4.0  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6
 [64]  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6
 [85]  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  102.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6
[106]  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6
[127]  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6  191.6
[148]  191.6  191.6  191.6  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4
[169]  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4
[190]  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  292.4  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6
[211]  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6
[232]  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  390.6  480.5  480.5
[253]  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5
[274]  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5
[295]  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  480.5  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2
[316]  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2
[337]  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  598.2  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6
[358]  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6
[379]  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6  698.6
[400]  698.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6
[421]  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6
[442]  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  796.6  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1
[463]  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1
[484]  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1  900.1 1000.0