Prompt

---
name: base-r
description: Provides base R programming guidance covering data structures, data wrangling, statistical modeling, visualization, and I/O, using only packages included in a standard R installation
---

# Base R Programming Skill

A comprehensive reference for base R programming — covering data structures, control flow, functions, I/O, statistical computing, and plotting.

## Quick Reference

### Data Structures

```r
# Vectors (atomic)
x <- c(1, 2, 3)              # numeric
y <- c("a", "b", "c")        # character
z <- c(TRUE, FALSE, TRUE)    # logical

# Factor
f <- factor(c("low", "med", "high"), levels = c("low", "med", "high"), ordered = TRUE)

# Matrix
m <- matrix(1:6, nrow = 2, ncol = 3)
m[1, ]       # first row
m[, 2]       # second column

# List
lst <- list(name = "ali", scores = c(90, 85), passed = TRUE)
lst$name      # access by name
lst[[2]]      # access by position

# Data frame
df <- data.frame(
  id = 1:3,
  name = c("a", "b", "c"),
  value = c(10.5, 20.3, 30.1),
  stringsAsFactors = FALSE
)
df[df$value > 15, ]    # filter rows
df$new_col <- df$value * 2  # add column
```

### Subsetting

```r
# Vectors
x[1:3]             # by position
x[c(TRUE, FALSE)]  # by logical
x[x > 5]           # by condition
x[-1]              # exclude first

# Data frames
df[1:5, ]                    # first 5 rows
df[, c("name", "value")]     # select columns
df[df$value > 10, "name"]    # filter + select
subset(df, value > 10, select = c(name, value))

# which() for index positions
idx <- which(df$value == max(df$value))
```

### Control Flow

```r
# if/else
if (x > 0) {
  "positive"
} else if (x == 0) {
  "zero"
} else {
  "negative"
}

# ifelse (vectorized)
ifelse(x > 0, "pos", "neg")

# for loop
for (i in seq_along(x)) {
  cat(i, x[i], "\n")
}

# while
while (condition) {
  # body
  if (stop_cond) break
}

# switch
switch(type,
  "a" = do_a(),
  "b" = do_b(),
  stop("Unknown type")
)
```

### Functions

```r
# Define
my_func <- function(x, y = 1, ...) {
  result <- x + y
  return(result)  # or just: result
}

# Anonymous functions
sapply(1:5, function(x) x^2)
# R 4.1+ shorthand:
sapply(1:5, \(x) x^2)

# Useful: do.call for calling with a list of args
do.call(paste, list("a", "b", sep = "-"))
```

### Apply Family

```r
# sapply — simplify result to vector/matrix
sapply(lst, length)

# lapply — always returns list
lapply(lst, function(x) x[1])

# vapply — like sapply but with type safety
vapply(lst, length, integer(1))

# apply — over matrix margins (1=rows, 2=cols)
apply(m, 2, sum)

# tapply — apply by groups
tapply(df$value, df$group, mean)

# mapply — multivariate
mapply(function(x, y) x + y, 1:3, 4:6)

# aggregate — like tapply for data frames
aggregate(value ~ group, data = df, FUN = mean)
```

### String Operations

```r
paste("a", "b", sep = "-")    # "a-b"
paste0("x", 1:3)              # "x1" "x2" "x3"
sprintf("%.2f%%", 3.14159)    # "3.14%"
nchar("hello")                # 5
substr("hello", 1, 3)         # "hel"
gsub("old", "new", text)      # replace all
grep("pattern", x)            # indices of matches
grepl("pattern", x)           # logical vector
strsplit("a,b,c", ",")        # list("a","b","c")
trimws("  hi  ")              # "hi"
tolower("ABC")                # "abc"
```

### Data I/O

```r
# CSV
df <- read.csv("data.csv", stringsAsFactors = FALSE)
write.csv(df, "output.csv", row.names = FALSE)

# Tab-delimited
df <- read.delim("data.tsv")

# General
df <- read.table("data.txt", header = TRUE, sep = "\t")

# RDS (single R object, preserves types)
saveRDS(obj, "data.rds")
obj <- readRDS("data.rds")

# RData (multiple objects)
save(df1, df2, file = "data.RData")
load("data.RData")

# Connections
con <- file("big.csv", "r")
chunk <- readLines(con, n = 100)
close(con)
```

### Base Plotting

```r
# Scatter
plot(x, y, main = "Title", xlab = "X", ylab = "Y",
     pch = 19, col = "steelblue", cex = 1.2)

# Line
plot(x, y, type = "l", lwd = 2, col = "red")
lines(x, y2, col = "blue", lty = 2)  # add line

# Bar
barplot(table(df$category), main = "Counts",
        col = "lightblue", las = 2)

# Histogram
hist(x, breaks = 30, col = "grey80",
     main = "Distribution", xlab = "Value")

# Box plot
boxplot(value ~ group, data = df,
        col = "lightyellow", main = "By Group")

# Multiple plots
par(mfrow = c(2, 2))  # 2x2 grid
# ... four plots ...
par(mfrow = c(1, 1))  # reset

# Save to file
png("plot.png", width = 800, height = 600)
plot(x, y)
dev.off()

# Add elements
legend("topright", legend = c("A", "B"),
       col = c("red", "blue"), lty = 1)
abline(h = 0, lty = 2, col = "grey")
text(x, y, labels = names, pos = 3, cex = 0.8)
```

### Statistics

```r
# Descriptive
mean(x); median(x); sd(x); var(x)
quantile(x, probs = c(0.25, 0.5, 0.75))
summary(df)
cor(x, y)
table(df$category)  # frequency table

# Linear model
fit <- lm(y ~ x1 + x2, data = df)
summary(fit)
coef(fit)
predict(fit, newdata = new_df)
confint(fit)

# t-test
t.test(x, y)                    # two-sample
t.test(x, mu = 0)               # one-sample
t.test(before, after, paired = TRUE)

# Chi-square
chisq.test(table(df$a, df$b))

# ANOVA
fit <- aov(value ~ group, data = df)
summary(fit)
TukeyHSD(fit)

# Correlation test
cor.test(x, y, method = "pearson")
```

### Data Manipulation

```r
# Merge (join)
merged <- merge(df1, df2, by = "id")                  # inner
merged <- merge(df1, df2, by = "id", all = TRUE)      # full outer
merged <- merge(df1, df2, by = "id", all.x = TRUE)    # left

# Reshape
wide <- reshape(long, direction = "wide",
                idvar = "id", timevar = "time", v.names = "value")
long <- reshape(wide, direction = "long",
                varying = list(c("v1", "v2")), v.names = "value")

# Sort
df[order(df$value), ]              # ascending
df[order(-df$value), ]             # descending
df[order(df$group, -df$value), ]   # multi-column

# Remove duplicates
df[!duplicated(df), ]
df[!duplicated(df$id), ]

# Stack / combine
rbind(df1, df2)    # stack rows (same columns)
cbind(df1, df2)    # bind columns (same rows)

# Transform columns
df$log_val <- log(df$value)
df$category <- cut(df$value, breaks = c(0, 10, 20, Inf),
                   labels = c("low", "med", "high"))
```

### Environment & Debugging

```r
ls()                  # list objects
rm(x)                 # remove object
rm(list = ls())       # clear all
str(obj)              # structure
class(obj)            # class
typeof(obj)           # internal type
is.na(x)              # check NA
complete.cases(df)    # rows without NA
traceback()           # after error
debug(my_func)        # step through
browser()             # breakpoint in code
system.time(expr)     # timing
Sys.time()            # current time
```

## Reference Files

For deeper coverage, read the reference files in `references/`:

### Function Gotchas & Quick Reference (condensed from R 4.5.3 Reference Manual)
Non-obvious behaviors, surprising defaults, and tricky interactions — only what Claude doesn't already know:
- **data-wrangling.md** — Read when: subsetting returns wrong type, apply on data frame gives unexpected coercion, merge/split/cbind behaves oddly, factor levels persist after filtering, table/duplicated edge cases.
- **modeling.md** — Read when: formula syntax is confusing (`I()`, `*` vs `:`, `/`), aov gives wrong SS type, glm silently fits OLS, nls won't converge, predict returns wrong scale, optim/optimize needs tuning.
- **statistics.md** — Read when: hypothesis test gives surprising result, need to choose correct p.adjust method, clustering parameters seem wrong, distribution function naming is confusing (`d`/`p`/`q`/`r` prefixes).
- **visualization.md** — Read when: par settings reset unexpectedly, layout/mfrow interaction is confusing, axis labels are clipped, colors don't look right, need specialty plots (contour, persp, mosaic, pairs).
- **io-and-text.md** — Read when: read.table silently drops data or misparses columns, regex behaves differently than expected, sprintf formatting is tricky, write.table output has unwanted row names.
- **dates-and-system.md** — Read when: Date/POSIXct conversion gives wrong day, time zones cause off-by-one, difftime units are unexpected, need to find/list/test files programmatically.
- **misc-utilities.md** — Read when: do.call behaves differently than direct call, need Reduce/Filter/Map, tryCatch handler doesn't fire, all.equal returns string not logical, time series functions need setup.

## Tips for Writing Good R Code

- Use `vapply()` over `sapply()` in production code — it enforces return types
- Prefer `seq_along(x)` over `1:length(x)` — the latter breaks when `x` is empty
- Use `stringsAsFactors = FALSE` in `read.csv()` / `data.frame()` (default changed in R 4.0)
- Vectorize operations instead of writing loops when possible
- Use `stop()`, `warning()`, `message()` for error handling — not `print()`
- `<<-` assigns to parent environment — use sparingly and intentionally
- `with(df, expr)` avoids repeating `df$` everywhere
- `Sys.setenv()` and `.Renviron` for environment variables
FILE:references/misc-utilities.md
# Miscellaneous Utilities — Quick Reference

> Non-obvious behaviors, gotchas, and tricky defaults for R functions.
> Only what Claude doesn't already know.

---

## do.call

- `do.call(fun, args_list)` — `args` must be a **list**, even for a single argument.
- `quote = TRUE` prevents evaluation of arguments before the call — needed when passing expressions/symbols.
- Behavior of `substitute` inside `do.call` differs from direct calls. Semantics are not fully defined for this case.
- Useful pattern: `do.call(rbind, list_of_dfs)` to combine a list of data frames.

---

## Reduce / Filter / Map / Find / Position

R's functional programming helpers from base — genuinely non-obvious.

- `Reduce(f, x)` applies binary function `f` cumulatively: `Reduce("+", 1:4)` = `((1+2)+3)+4`. Direction matters for non-commutative ops.
- `Reduce(f, x, accumulate = TRUE)` returns all intermediate results — equivalent to Python's `itertools.accumulate`.
- `Reduce(f, x, right = TRUE)` folds from the right: `f(x1, f(x2, f(x3, x4)))`.
- `Reduce` with `init` adds a starting value: `Reduce(f, x, init = v)` = `f(f(f(v, x1), x2), x3)`.
- `Filter(f, x)` keeps elements where `f(elem)` is `TRUE`. Unlike `x[sapply(x, f)]`, handles `NULL`/empty correctly.
- `Map(f, ...)` is a simple wrapper for `mapply(f, ..., SIMPLIFY = FALSE)` — always returns a list.
- `Find(f, x)` returns the **first** element where `f(elem)` is `TRUE`. `Find(f, x, right = TRUE)` for last.
- `Position(f, x)` returns the **index** of the first match (like `Find` but returns position, not value).

---

## lengths

- `lengths(x)` returns the length of **each element** of a list. Equivalent to `sapply(x, length)` but faster (implemented in C).
- Works on any list-like object. Returns integer vector.

---

## conditions (tryCatch / withCallingHandlers)

- `tryCatch` **unwinds** the call stack — handler runs in the calling environment, not where the error occurred. Cannot resume execution.
- `withCallingHandlers` does NOT unwind — handler runs where the condition was signaled. Can inspect/log then let the condition propagate.
- `tryCatch(expr, error = function(e) e)` returns the error condition object.
- `tryCatch(expr, warning = function(w) {...})` catches the **first** warning and exits. Use `withCallingHandlers` + `invokeRestart("muffleWarning")` to suppress warnings but continue.
- `tryCatch` `finally` clause always runs (like Java try/finally).
- `globalCallingHandlers()` registers handlers that persist for the session (useful for logging).
- Custom conditions: `stop(errorCondition("msg", class = "myError"))` then catch with `tryCatch(..., myError = function(e) ...)`.

---

## all.equal

- Tests **near equality** with tolerance (default `1.5e-8`, i.e., `sqrt(.Machine$double.eps)`).
- Returns `TRUE` or a **character string** describing the difference — NOT `FALSE`. Use `isTRUE(all.equal(x, y))` in conditionals.
- `tolerance` argument controls numeric tolerance. `scale` for absolute vs relative comparison.
- Checks attributes, names, dimensions — more thorough than `==`.

---

## combn

- `combn(n, m)` or `combn(x, m)`: generates all combinations of `m` items from `x`.
- Returns a **matrix** with `m` rows; each column is one combination.
- `FUN` argument applies a function to each combination: `combn(5, 3, sum)` returns sums of all 3-element subsets.
- `simplify = FALSE` returns a list instead of a matrix.

---

## modifyList

- `modifyList(x, val)` replaces elements of list `x` with those in `val` by **name**.
- Setting a value to `NULL` **removes** that element from the list.
- **Does** add new names not in `x` — it uses `x[names(val)] <- val` internally, so any name in `val` gets added or replaced.

---

## relist

- Inverse of `unlist`: given a flat vector and a skeleton list, reconstructs the nested structure.
- `relist(flesh, skeleton)` — `flesh` is the flat data, `skeleton` provides the shape.
- Works with factors, matrices, and nested lists.

---

## txtProgressBar

- `txtProgressBar(min, max, style = 3)` — style 3 shows percentage + bar (most useful).
- Update with `setTxtProgressBar(pb, value)`. Close with `close(pb)`.
- Style 1: rotating `|/-\`, style 2: simple progress. Only style 3 shows percentage.

---

## object.size

- Returns an **estimate** of memory used by an object. Not always exact for shared references.
- `format(object.size(x), units = "MB")` for human-readable output.
- Does not count the size of environments or external pointers.

---

## installed.packages / update.packages

- `installed.packages()` can be slow (scans all packages). Use `find.package()` or `requireNamespace()` to check for a specific package.
- `update.packages(ask = FALSE)` updates all packages without prompting.
- `lib.loc` specifies which library to check/update.

---

## vignette / demo

- `vignette()` lists all vignettes; `vignette("name", package = "pkg")` opens a specific one.
- `demo()` lists all demos; `demo("topic")` runs one interactively.
- `browseVignettes()` opens vignette browser in HTML.

---

## Time series: acf / arima / ts / stl / decompose

- `ts(data, start, frequency)`: `frequency` is observations per unit time (12 for monthly, 4 for quarterly).
- `acf` default `type = "correlation"`. Use `type = "partial"` for PACF. `plot = FALSE` to suppress auto-plotting.
- `arima(x, order = c(p,d,q))` for ARIMA models. `seasonal = list(order = c(P,D,Q), period = S)` for seasonal component.
- `arima` handles `NA` values in the time series (via Kalman filter).
- `stl` requires `s.window` (seasonal window) — must be specified, no default. `s.window = "periodic"` assumes fixed seasonality.
- `decompose`: simpler than `stl`, uses moving averages. `type = "additive"` or `"multiplicative"`.
- `stl` result components: `$time.series` matrix with columns `seasonal`, `trend`, `remainder`.
FILE:references/data-wrangling.md
# Data Wrangling — Quick Reference

> Non-obvious behaviors, gotchas, and tricky defaults for R functions.
> Only what Claude doesn't already know.

---

## Extract / Extract.data.frame

Indexing pitfalls in base R.

- `m[j = 2, i = 1]` is `m[2, 1]` not `m[1, 2]` — argument names are **ignored** in `[`, positional matching only. Never name index args.
- Factor indexing: `x[f]` uses integer codes of factor `f`, not its character labels. Use `x[as.character(f)]` for label-based indexing.
- `x[[]]` with no index is always an error. `x$name` does partial matching by default; `x[["name"]]` does not (exact by default).
- Assigning `NULL` via `x[[i]] <- NULL` or `x$name <- NULL` **deletes** that list element.
- Data frame `[` with single column: `df[, 1]` returns a **vector** (drop=TRUE default for columns), but `df[1, ]` returns a **data frame** (drop=FALSE for rows). Use `drop = FALSE` explicitly.
- Matrix indexing a data frame (`df[cbind(i,j)]`) coerces to matrix first — avoid.

---

## subset

Use interactively only; unsafe for programming.

- `subset` argument uses **non-standard evaluation** — column names are resolved in the data frame, which can silently pick up wrong variables in programmatic use. Use `[` with explicit logic in functions.
- `NA`s in the logical condition are treated as `FALSE` (rows silently dropped).
- Factors may retain unused levels after subsetting; call `droplevels()`.

---

## match / %in%

- `%in%` **never returns NA** — this makes it safe for `if()` conditions unlike `==`.
- `match()` returns position of **first** match only; duplicates in `table` are ignored.
- Factors, raw vectors, and lists are all converted to character before matching.
- `NaN` matches `NaN` but not `NA`; `NA` matches `NA` only.

---

## apply

- On a **data frame**, `apply` coerces to matrix via `as.matrix` first — mixed types become character.
- Return value orientation is transposed: if FUN returns length-n vector, result has dim `c(n, dim(X)[MARGIN])`. Row results become **columns**.
- Factor results are coerced to character in the output array.
- `...` args cannot share names with `X`, `MARGIN`, or `FUN` (partial matching risk).

---

## lapply / sapply / vapply

- `sapply` can return a vector, matrix, or list unpredictably — use `vapply` in non-interactive code with explicit `FUN.VALUE` template.
- Calling primitives directly in `lapply` can cause dispatch issues; wrap in `function(x) is.numeric(x)` rather than bare `is.numeric`.
- `sapply` with `simplify = "array"` can produce higher-rank arrays (not just matrices).

---

## tapply

- Returns an **array** (not a data frame). Class info on return values is **discarded** (e.g., Date objects become numeric).
- `...` args to FUN are **not** divided into cells — they apply globally, so FUN should not expect additional args with same length as X.
- `default = NA` fills empty cells; set `default = 0` for sum-like operations. Before R 3.4.0 this was hard-coded to `NA`.
- Use `array2DF()` to convert result to a data frame.

---

## mapply

- Argument name is `SIMPLIFY` (all caps) not `simplify` — inconsistent with `sapply`.
- `MoreArgs` must be a **list** of args not vectorized over.
- Recycles shorter args to common length; zero-length arg gives zero-length result.

---

## merge

- Default `by` is `intersect(names(x), names(y))` — can silently merge on unintended columns if data frames share column names.
- `by = 0` or `by = "row.names"` merges on row names, adding a "Row.names" column.
- `by = NULL` (or both `by.x`/`by.y` length 0) produces **Cartesian product**.
- Result is sorted on `by` columns by default (`sort = TRUE`). For unsorted output use `sort = FALSE`.
- Duplicate key matches produce **all combinations** (one row per match pair).

---

## split

- If `f` is a list of factors, interaction is used; levels containing `"."` can cause unexpected splits unless `sep` is changed.
- `drop = FALSE` (default) retains empty factor levels as empty list elements.
- Supports formula syntax: `split(df, ~ Month)`.

---

## cbind / rbind

- `cbind` on data frames calls `data.frame(...)`, not `cbind.matrix`. Mixing matrices and data frames can give unexpected results.
- `rbind` on data frames matches columns **by name**, not position. Missing columns get `NA`.
- `cbind(NULL)` returns `NULL` (not a matrix). For consistency, `rbind(NULL)` also returns `NULL`.

---

## table

- By default **excludes NA** (`useNA = "no"`). Use `useNA = "ifany"` or `exclude = NULL` to count NAs.
- Setting `exclude` non-empty and non-default implies `useNA = "ifany"`.
- Result is always an **array** (even 1D), class "table". Convert to data frame with `as.data.frame(tbl)`.
- Two kinds of NA (factor-level NA vs actual NA) are treated differently depending on `useNA`/`exclude`.

---

## duplicated / unique

- `duplicated` marks the **second and later** occurrences as TRUE, not the first. Use `fromLast = TRUE` to reverse.
- For data frames, operates on whole rows. For lists, compares recursively.
- `unique` keeps the **first** occurrence of each va