RKWard Plugin: Pattern Replacement (sub/gsub) rk.gsub.sub

An RKWard plugin that provides a graphical user interface (GUI) for the base R functions sub() and gsub(). This tool allows users to perform powerful pattern finding and replacement on character vectors without needing to write code.

Features

• Switch Functions: Easily toggle between gsub (replace all occurrences) and sub (replace first occurrence).
• Flexible Inputs: Use text strings or NA values for both the pattern to find and the replacement text.
• Full Regex Control: Full control over key function arguments:
  • ignore.case: For case-insensitive matching.
  • perl: To use the powerful Perl-compatible regular expression engine.
  • fixed: To treat the pattern as a literal string instead of a regex.
  • useBytes: For byte-by-byte matching.
• Data Preview: A live preview button shows the result of the replacement before committing.
• Type Conversion: Optionally convert the final character vector into a factor.
• Save Output: Save the resulting vector to a new object in the R workspace.

Installation

To install this plugin, you will need R, RKWard, and the devtools and rkwarddev packages installed.

Install the Package: Finally, install the plugin package using devtools:

```{r}

local({ ## Preparar require(devtools) ## Computar install_github( repo=“AlfCano/rk.gsub.sub” ) ## Imprimir el resultado rk.header (“Resultados de Instalar desde git”) })

```

Restart RKWard: Close and reopen RKWard. The new plugin will be available in the top menu.

How to Use

1. After installation, find the plugin in the RKWard menu under Data > Pattern Replacement (sub/gsub).
2. On the left, select the data frame containing the vector you want to modify.
3. In the main panel, select the target character or factor column from the Input character vector (x) dropdown.
4. Fill in the Pattern and Replacement fields. Use the checkboxes if you want to find or replace with NA.
5. Adjust the Options checkboxes (ignore.case, perl, fixed) to control the matching behavior.
6. (Optional) Check Convert result to factor if you need a factor as output.
7. Specify a name for the output object in the Save result to field.
8. Click the Preview button to see a sample of the output.
9. Click Submit to run the operation and create the new object.

Examples

Example 1: Cleaning Age Groups in the esoph Dataset

The esoph dataset has an agegp column with values like "25-34" and "75+". Let’s clean this to get just the numbers.

1. Load the data in R: data(esoph)
2. Open the plugin.
3. Select esoph and the agegp column.
4. Set the following options:
   • Function to use: Global replacement (gsub)
   • Pattern: [+-] (This regex matches a plus OR a hyphen)
   • Replacement: (leave this field blank)
   • ignore.case: Unchecked
   • perl: Checked
   • fixed: Unchecked
5. Click Submit.

The resulting vector will contain values like "2534" and "75".

Example 2: Replacing NA Values

Imagine you have a vector with missing values that you want to label clearly.

1. Create a test vector in R: test_vec <- c("Red", "Blue", NA, "Green")
2. Open the plugin.
3. Select test_vec as the input vector.
4. Set the following options:
   • Pattern: Check the Use NA as pattern box.
   • Replacement: Type Unknown in the text field.
5. Click Submit.

The resulting vector will be [1] "Red" "Blue" "Unknown" "Green".

Author

• Alfonso Cano Robles
  
• Assited by Gemini a LLM by Google.