Describe the class(es) of an object

Source: R/compare_df_cols.R

Describe the class(es) of an object

describe_class(x, strict_description = TRUE)

# S3 method for class 'factor'
describe_class(x, strict_description = TRUE)

# Default S3 method
describe_class(x, strict_description = TRUE)

Arguments

x

The object to describe

strict_description

Should differing factor levels be treated as differences for the purposes of identifying mismatches? strict_description = `TRUE` is stricter and factors with different levels will be treated as different classes. FALSE is more lenient: for class comparison purposes, the variable is just a "factor".

Value

A character scalar describing the class(es) of an object where if the scalar will match, columns in a data.frame (or similar object) should bind together without issue.

Details

For package developers, an S3 generic method can be written for describe_class() for custom classes that may need more definition than the default method. This function is called by compare_df_cols.

Methods (by class)

  • describe_class(factor): Describe factors with their levels and if they are ordered.

  • describe_class(default): List all classes of an object.

See also

Other Data frame type comparison: compare_df_cols_same(), compare_df_cols()

Examples

describe_class(1)
#> [1] "numeric"
describe_class(factor("A"))
#> [1] "factor(levels=c(\"A\"))"
describe_class(ordered(c("A", "B")))
#> [1] "ordered, factor(levels=c(\"A\", \"B\"))"
describe_class(ordered(c("A", "B")), strict_description=FALSE)
#> [1] "factor"