Arrange

The dplyr::arrange() function allows you to arrange the rows of a tibble.

Dataset

For demonstration we’ll load and subset the knz_bison data from the lterdatasampler package (hyperlink includes install instructions).

#Load package
library("lterdatasampler")
#Subset of knz_bison tibble for demonstration
bison_tbl <- lterdatasampler::knz_bison |>
    #Convert to tibble
    tibble::as_tibble() |>
    #Slice to choose rows by index
    dplyr::slice(c(1,2,911,145,146,179,181,34,35)) |>
    #Select to choose columns based on column names
    dplyr::select(c(data_code,rec_year,animal_sex))
bison_tbl

# A tibble: 9 × 3
  data_code rec_year animal_sex
  <chr>        <dbl> <chr>     
1 CBH01         1994 F         
2 CBH01         1994 F         
3 CBH01         1999 F         
4 CBH01         1995 M         
5 CBH01         1995 F         
6 CBH01         1995 M         
7 CBH01         1995 M         
8 CBH01         1994 M         
9 CBH01         1994 M

Numeric columns

Arrange the tibble by rec_year:

bison_tbl |> dplyr::arrange(rec_year)

# A tibble: 9 × 3
  data_code rec_year animal_sex
  <chr>        <dbl> <chr>     
1 CBH01         1994 F         
2 CBH01         1994 F         
3 CBH01         1994 M         
4 CBH01         1994 M         
5 CBH01         1995 M         
6 CBH01         1995 F         
7 CBH01         1995 M         
8 CBH01         1995 M         
9 CBH01         1999 F

dplyr::arrange() will arrange the rows by the selected column in ascending fashion (lowest to highest). You can use the desc() function on columns you wan’t to be ordered in descending fashion.

Arrange the tibble by rec_year in descending fashion:

bison_tbl |> dplyr::arrange(desc(rec_year))

# A tibble: 9 × 3
  data_code rec_year animal_sex
  <chr>        <dbl> <chr>     
1 CBH01         1999 F         
2 CBH01         1995 M         
3 CBH01         1995 F         
4 CBH01         1995 M         
5 CBH01         1995 M         
6 CBH01         1994 F         
7 CBH01         1994 F         
8 CBH01         1994 M         
9 CBH01         1994 M

String columns

Strings are order by alphabetical order.

Default is from A-Z (ascending).

bison_tbl |> dplyr::arrange(animal_sex)

# A tibble: 9 × 3
  data_code rec_year animal_sex
  <chr>        <dbl> <chr>     
1 CBH01         1994 F         
2 CBH01         1994 F         
3 CBH01         1999 F         
4 CBH01         1995 F         
5 CBH01         1995 M         
6 CBH01         1995 M         
7 CBH01         1995 M         
8 CBH01         1994 M         
9 CBH01         1994 M

Set it to descending will order it from Z-A.

bison_tbl |> dplyr::arrange(desc(animal_sex))

# A tibble: 9 × 3
  data_code rec_year animal_sex
  <chr>        <dbl> <chr>     
1 CBH01         1995 M         
2 CBH01         1995 M         
3 CBH01         1995 M         
4 CBH01         1994 M         
5 CBH01         1994 M         
6 CBH01         1994 F         
7 CBH01         1994 F         
8 CBH01         1999 F         
9 CBH01         1995 F

Multiple columns

Multiple columns can be used to arrange a tibble.

The priority of ordering is based on the order of the columns, from high to low priority.

bison_tbl |> dplyr::arrange(rec_year, animal_sex)

# A tibble: 9 × 3
  data_code rec_year animal_sex
  <chr>        <dbl> <chr>     
1 CBH01         1994 F         
2 CBH01         1994 F         
3 CBH01         1994 M         
4 CBH01         1994 M         
5 CBH01         1995 F         
6 CBH01         1995 M         
7 CBH01         1995 M         
8 CBH01         1995 M         
9 CBH01         1999 F