Compute all fixed window averages with dplyr and RcppRoll

Question

I would like to compute all (or at least many) fixed window averages using dplyr and RcppRoll. For example, if I want to compute the average wind speed from the storms

Answer 1

Just use the power of quoting and unquoting! That's what you have:

library(dplyr)
library(RcppRoll)

set.seed(1)
storms <- storms[storms$name %in% sample(storms$name, size = 4),]

storms_subset <- storms %>%
  select(name, year, month, day, hour, wind) %>%
  group_by(name) %>%
  arrange(name, year, month, day, hour) %>%
  mutate_at("wind", .funs = funs(
    "avg_4" = roll_meanr(., n = 4, fill = NA),
    "avg_5" = roll_meanr(., n = 5, fill = NA),
    "avg_6" = roll_meanr(., n = 6, fill = NA)
  ))

Now let's make a function that builds a bunch of expressions like roll_meanr(x, n) for different xs and ns.

make_rollmeans <- function(..., .n = 3) {
  # this line captures vars you typed in
  .dots <- rlang::exprs(...)

  # now you iterate over captured variables...
  q <- purrr::map(.dots, function(.var) {
    # ... and over window sizes
    purrr::map(.n, function(.nn) {
      # for each (variable, window) pair make an expression
      rlang::expr(RcppRoll::roll_meanr(!!.var, !!(.nn)))
    }) %>% 
      # set proper names by combining variable name, "avg", and window size
      purrr::set_names(paste0(as.character(.var), "_avg_", .n))
  }) %>%
    # and finally remove inner structure of list of expressions
    # after that you'll have a list of expressions with depth 1 
    purrr::flatten() 
  q
}

All the magic comes from rlang::expr(RcppRoll::roll_meanr(!!.var, !!(.nn))). With !!.var you substitute .var with input variable name, i.e. wind. With !!.nn you substitute .nn with number. Next, you quote the expression with rlang::expr(...).

This function gets variable names without "" and vector of window sizes. Output looks like this:

make_rollmeans(wind, pressure, .n = c(3, 5))
#> $wind_avg_3
#> RcppRoll::roll_meanr(wind, 3)
#> 
#> $wind_avg_5
#> RcppRoll::roll_meanr(wind, 5)
#> 
#> $pressure_avg_3
#> RcppRoll::roll_meanr(pressure, 3)
#> 
#> $pressure_avg_5
#> RcppRoll::roll_meanr(pressure, 5)

You can see expressions you are looking for.

Next, you can put make_rollmeans inside mutate() call using !!! (bang-bang-bang) operator for unquoting expressions built by it.

select(storms_subset, wind) %>% mutate(!!!make_rollmeans(wind, .n = 3:20))
#> Adding missing grouping variables: `name`
#> # A tibble: 261 x 20
#> # Groups:   name [4]
#>    name     wind wind_avg_3 wind_avg_4 wind_avg_5 wind_avg_6 wind_avg_7
#>                                     
#>  1 Ernesto    30       NA         NA          NA        NA         NA  
#>  2 Ernesto    30       NA         NA          NA        NA         NA  
#>  3 Ernesto    30       30.0       NA          NA        NA         NA  
#>  4 Ernesto    35       31.7       31.2        NA        NA         NA  
#>  5 Ernesto    40       35.0       33.8        33.       NA         NA  
#>  6 Ernesto    50       41.7       38.8        37.       35.8       NA  
#>  7 Ernesto    60       50.0       46.2        43.       40.8       39.3
#>  8 Ernesto    55       55.0       51.2        48.       45.0       42.9
#>  9 Ernesto    50       55.0       53.8        51.       48.3       45.7
#> 10 Ernesto    45       50.0       52.5        52.       50.0       47.9
#> # ... with 251 more rows, and 13 more variables: wind_avg_8 ,
#> #   wind_avg_9 , wind_avg_10 , wind_avg_11 ,
#> #   wind_avg_12 , wind_avg_13 , wind_avg_14 ,
#> #   wind_avg_15 , wind_avg_16 , wind_avg_17 ,
#> #   wind_avg_18 , wind_avg_19 , wind_avg_20 

I hope the result is the same as you are asked for. :)