Rank based on several variables

Question

This is a small example. In my larger dataset, I have multiple years of data and the number of observations per group (div) are not always equal.

Example data:

Answer 1

This is how I'd do it:

library(data.table)
dt = as.data.table(df)

dt[order(-pts, -x), rank.init := 1:.N, by = div]

dt[, div.clean := sub('(\\d+).*', '\\1', div)]
setorder(dt, div.clean, rank.init)

dt[, rank.final := mean(.I), by = .(div.clean, rank.init)]
setorder(dt, div, rank.final)
#    year id div pts  x rank.init div.clean rank.final
# 1: 2014  N   1   9 11         1         1        1.0
# 2: 2014  G   1   9 10         2         1        2.0
# 3: 2014  J   1   7 12         3         1        3.0
# 4: 2014  U   1   3  7         4         1        4.0
# 5: 2014  M  2a   7 12         1         2        5.5
# 6: 2014  E  2a   7  7         2         2        7.5
# 7: 2014  S  2a   5  5         3         2        9.5
# 8: 2014  W  2a   3  4         4         2       11.5
# 9: 2014  D  2b   7  7         1         2        5.5
#10: 2014  B  2b   7  6         2         2        7.5
#11: 2014  L  2b   2  4         3         2        9.5
#12: 2014  C  2b   1  2         4         2       11.5