Relocate

The function dplyr::relocate() can change the order of columns.

Dataset

For demonstration we’ll load the mammal_sleep_tbl data from the mgrtibbles package (hyperlink includes install instructions). For easier viewing we’ll subset it so it only has 5 rows.

#Load package
library("mgrtibbles")
#mammal_sleep_tbl tibble for demonstration
mammal_sleep_tbl<- mgrtibbles::mammal_sleep_tbl |> 
    #Slice to extract rows 1:5
    dplyr::slice(1:5)
mammal_sleep_tbl

# A tibble: 5 × 11
  species body_wt brain_wt non_dreaming dreaming total_sleep life_span gestation
  <chr>     <dbl>    <dbl>        <dbl>    <dbl>       <dbl>     <dbl>     <dbl>
1 Africa… 6654      5.71           NA       NA           3.3      38.6       645
2 Africa…    1      0.0066          6.3      2           8.3       4.5        42
3 Arctic…    3.38   0.0445         NA       NA          12.5      14          60
4 Arctic…    0.92   0.0057         NA       NA          16.5      NA          25
5 Asiane… 2547      4.60            2.1      1.8         3.9      69         624
# ℹ 3 more variables: predation <fct>, exposure <fct>, danger <fct>

Relocate to first column

Relocating a column to the first column is the default behaviour of dplyr::relocate()

Relocate column “body_wt” to first column.

mammal_sleep_tbl |> dplyr::relocate(body_wt)

# A tibble: 5 × 11
  body_wt species brain_wt non_dreaming dreaming total_sleep life_span gestation
    <dbl> <chr>      <dbl>        <dbl>    <dbl>       <dbl>     <dbl>     <dbl>
1 6654    Africa…   5.71           NA       NA           3.3      38.6       645
2    1    Africa…   0.0066          6.3      2           8.3       4.5        42
3    3.38 Arctic…   0.0445         NA       NA          12.5      14          60
4    0.92 Arctic…   0.0057         NA       NA          16.5      NA          25
5 2547    Asiane…   4.60            2.1      1.8         3.9      69         624
# ℹ 3 more variables: predation <fct>, exposure <fct>, danger <fct>

Relocate after another column

Relocate the body_wt column after the brain_wt column with the .after= option.

mammal_sleep_tbl |> dplyr::relocate(body_wt, .after=brain_wt)

# A tibble: 5 × 11
  species brain_wt body_wt non_dreaming dreaming total_sleep life_span gestation
  <chr>      <dbl>   <dbl>        <dbl>    <dbl>       <dbl>     <dbl>     <dbl>
1 Africa…   5.71   6654            NA       NA           3.3      38.6       645
2 Africa…   0.0066    1             6.3      2           8.3       4.5        42
3 Arctic…   0.0445    3.38         NA       NA          12.5      14          60
4 Arctic…   0.0057    0.92         NA       NA          16.5      NA          25
5 Asiane…   4.60   2547             2.1      1.8         3.9      69         624
# ℹ 3 more variables: predation <fct>, exposure <fct>, danger <fct>

Relocate before another column

Relocate the dreaming column before the non_dreaming column with the .before= option.

mammal_sleep_tbl |> dplyr::relocate(dreaming, .before=non_dreaming)

# A tibble: 5 × 11
  species body_wt brain_wt dreaming non_dreaming total_sleep life_span gestation
  <chr>     <dbl>    <dbl>    <dbl>        <dbl>       <dbl>     <dbl>     <dbl>
1 Africa… 6654      5.71       NA           NA           3.3      38.6       645
2 Africa…    1      0.0066      2            6.3         8.3       4.5        42
3 Arctic…    3.38   0.0445     NA           NA          12.5      14          60
4 Arctic…    0.92   0.0057     NA           NA          16.5      NA          25
5 Asiane… 2547      4.60        1.8          2.1         3.9      69         624
# ℹ 3 more variables: predation <fct>, exposure <fct>, danger <fct>

Relocate a column to the last column

Use the last_col() helper function as the .after() option to move the predation column to the last column.

mammal_sleep_tbl |> 
    #Select columns predation to danger
    dplyr::select(predation:danger) |>
    #Relocate predation to last column
    dplyr::relocate(predation, .after=last_col())

# A tibble: 5 × 3
  exposure danger predation
  <fct>    <fct>  <fct>    
1 5        3      3        
2 1        3      3        
3 1        1      1        
4 2        3      5        
5 5        4      3

Relocate all columns of a certain data type

Relocate all numeric (integer and floats) columns to start of tibble. This utilises the where() function.

mammal_sleep_tbl |> dplyr::relocate(where(is.numeric))

# A tibble: 5 × 11
  body_wt brain_wt non_dreaming dreaming total_sleep life_span gestation species
    <dbl>    <dbl>        <dbl>    <dbl>       <dbl>     <dbl>     <dbl> <chr>  
1 6654      5.71           NA       NA           3.3      38.6       645 Africa…
2    1      0.0066          6.3      2           8.3       4.5        42 Africa…
3    3.38   0.0445         NA       NA          12.5      14          60 Arctic…
4    0.92   0.0057         NA       NA          16.5      NA          25 Arctic…
5 2547      4.60            2.1      1.8         3.9      69         624 Asiane…
# ℹ 3 more variables: predation <fct>, exposure <fct>, danger <fct>

Relocate all factor columns after the species column.

mammal_sleep_tbl |> dplyr::relocate(where(is.factor), .after=species)

# A tibble: 5 × 11
  species       predation exposure danger body_wt brain_wt non_dreaming dreaming
  <chr>         <fct>     <fct>    <fct>    <dbl>    <dbl>        <dbl>    <dbl>
1 Africaneleph… 3         5        3      6654      5.71           NA       NA  
2 Africangiant… 3         1        3         1      0.0066          6.3      2  
3 ArcticFox     1         1        1         3.38   0.0445         NA       NA  
4 Arcticground… 5         2        3         0.92   0.0057         NA       NA  
5 Asianelephant 3         5        4      2547      4.60            2.1      1.8
# ℹ 3 more variables: total_sleep <dbl>, life_span <dbl>, gestation <dbl>

Relocate all character (string) columns to the end.

mammal_sleep_tbl |> 
    #Relocate string columns to end
    dplyr::relocate(where(is.character), .after=last_col()) |>
    #Select last five columns
    dplyr::select(last_col(4):last_col())

# A tibble: 5 × 5
  gestation predation exposure danger species               
      <dbl> <fct>     <fct>    <fct>  <chr>                 
1       645 3         5        3      Africanelephant       
2        42 3         1        3      Africangiantpouchedrat
3        60 1         1        1      ArcticFox             
4        25 5         2        3      Arcticgroundsquirrel  
5       624 3         5        4      Asianelephant