Get type of all variables

Question

In R, I\'d like to retrieve a list of global variables at the end of my script and iterate over them. Here is my code

#declare a few sample variables
a<-1         


        

Answer 1

You can use class(x) to check the variable type. If requirement is to check all variables type of a data frame then sapply(x, class) can be used.

Answer 2

How to get the type of variable when hidden underneath a global object:

Everything you need is in the R manual on basic types: https://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/R-lang.html#Basic-types

Your object() needs to be penetrated with get(...) before you can see inside. Example:

a <- 10
myGlobals <- objects()
for(i in myGlobals){
  typeof(i)         #prints character
  typeof(get(i))    #prints integer
}

How to get the type of variable you have in R

The R function typeof has a bias to give you the type at maximum depth, for example.

library(tibble)

#expression              notes                                  type
#----------------------- -------------------------------------- ----------
typeof(TRUE)             #a single boolean:                     logical
typeof(1L)               #a single numeric with L postfixed:    integer
typeof("foobar")         #A single string in double quotes:     character
typeof(1)                #a single numeric:                     double
typeof(list(5,6,7))      #a list of numeric:                    list
typeof(2i)               #an imaginary number                   complex

#So far so good, but those who wish to keep their sanity go no further
typeof(5 + 5L)           #double + integer is coerced:          double
typeof(c())              #an empty vector has no type:          NULL
typeof(!5)               #a bang before a double:               logical
typeof(Inf)              #infinity has a type:                  double
typeof(c(5,6,7))         #a vector containing only doubles:     double
typeof(c(c(TRUE)))       #a vector of vector of logicals:       logical
typeof(matrix(1:10))     #a matrix of doubles has a type:       list

#Strangeness ahead, there be dragons: step carefully:
typeof(substr("abc",2,2))#a string at index 2 which is 'b' is:  character
typeof(c(5L,6L,7L))      #a vector containing only integers:    integer
typeof(c(NA,NA,NA))      #a vector containing only NA:          logical
typeof(data.frame())     #a data.frame with nothing in it:      list
typeof(data.frame(c(3))) #a data.frame with a double in it:     list
typeof(c("foobar"))      #a vector containing only strings:     character
typeof(pi)               #builtin expression for pi:            double

#OK, I'm starting to get irritated, however, I am also longsuffering:
typeof(1.66)             #a single numeric with mantissa:       double
typeof(1.66L)            #a double with L postfixed             double
typeof(c("foobar"))      #a vector containing only strings:     character
typeof(c(5L, 6L))        #a vector containing only integers:    integer
typeof(c(1.5, 2.5))      #a vector containing only doubles:     double
typeof(c(1.5, 2.5))      #a vector containing only doubles:     double
typeof(c(TRUE, FALSE))   #a vector containing only logicals:    logical

#R is really cramping my style, killing my high, irritation is increasing:
typeof(factor())         #an empty factor has default type:     integer
typeof(factor(3.14))     #a factor containing doubles:          integer
typeof(factor(T, F))     #a factor containing logicals:         integer
typeof(Sys.Date())       #builtin R dates:                      double
typeof(hms::hms(3600))   #hour minute second timestamp          double
typeof(c(T, F))          #T and F are builtins:                 logical
typeof(1:10)             #a builtin sequence of numerics:       integer
typeof(NA)               #The builtin value not available:      logical

#The R coolaid punchbowl has been spiked: stay frosty and keep your head low:
typeof(c(list(T)))       #a vector of lists of logical:         list
typeof(list(c(T)))       #a list of vectors of logical:         list
typeof(c(T, 3.14))       #a vector of logicals and doubles:     double
typeof(c(3.14, "foo"))   #a vector of doubles and characters:   character
typeof(c("foo",list(T))) #a vector of strings and lists:        list
typeof(list("foo",c(T))) #a list of strings and vectors:        list
typeof(TRUE + 5L)        #a logical plus an integer:            integer
typeof(c(TRUE, 5L)[1])   #The true is coerced to 1              integer
typeof(c(c(2i), TRUE)[1])#logical coerced to complex:           complex
typeof(c(NaN, 'batman')) #NaN's in a vector don't dominate:     character
typeof(5 && 4)           #doubles are coerced by order of &&    logical
typeof(8 < 'foobar')     #string and double is coerced          logical
typeof(list(4, T)[[1]])  #a list retains type at every index:   double
typeof(list(4, T)[[2]])  #a list retains type at every index:   logical
typeof(2 ** 5)           #result of exponentiation              double
typeof(0E0)              #exponential lol notation              double
typeof(0x3fade)          #hexidecimal                           double
typeof(paste(3, '3'))    #paste promotes types to string        character
typeof(3 + 四)           #R pukes on unicode                    error
typeof(iconv("a", "latin1", "UTF-8")) #UTF-8 characters         character
typeof(5 == 5)           #result of a comparison:               logical

How to get the class of a variable you have in R

The R function class has a bias to give you the type of container or structure encapsulating your types, for example.

library(tibble)

#expression            notes                                    class
#--------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------
class(matrix(1:10))     #a matrix of doubles has a class:       matrix
class(factor("hi"))     #factor of items is:                    factor
class(TRUE)             #a single boolean:                      logical
class(1L)               #a single numeric with L postfixed:     integer
class("foobar")         #A single string in double quotes:      character
class(1)                #a single numeric:                      numeric
class(list(5,6,7))      #a list of numeric:                     list
class(2i)               #an imaginary                           complex
class(data.frame())     #a data.frame with nothing in it:       data.frame
class(Sys.Date())       #builtin R dates:                       Date
class(sapply)           #a function is                          function
class(charToRaw("hi"))  #convert string to raw:                 raw
class(array("hi"))      #array of items is:                     array

#So far so good, but those who wish to keep their sanity go no further
class(5 + 5L)           #double + integer is coerced:          numeric
class(c())              #an empty vector has no class:         NULL
class(!5)               #a bang before a double:               logical
class(Inf)              #infinity has a class:                 numeric
class(c(5,6,7))         #a vector containing only doubles:     numeric
class(c(c(TRUE)))       #a vector of vector of logicals:       logical

#Strangeness ahead, there be dragons: step carefully:
class(substr("abc",2,2))#a string at index 2 which is 'b' is:  character
class(c(5L,6L,7L))      #a vector containing only integers:    integer
class(c(NA,NA,NA))      #a vector containing only NA:          logical
class(data.frame(c(3))) #a data.frame with a double in it:     data.frame
class(c("foobar"))      #a vector containing only strings:     character
class(pi)               #builtin expression for pi:            numeric

#OK, I'm starting to get irritated, however, I am also longsuffering:
class(1.66)             #a single numeric with mantissa:       numeric
class(1.66L)            #a double with L postfixed             numeric
class(c("foobar"))      #a vector containing only strings:     character
class(c(5L, 6L))        #a vector containing only integers:    integer
class(c(1.5, 2.5))      #a vector containing only doubles:     numeric
class(c(TRUE, FALSE))   #a vector containing only logicals:    logical

#R is really cramping my style, killing my high, irritation is increasing:
class(factor())       #an empty factor has default class:      factor
class(factor(3.14))   #a factor containing doubles:            factor
class(factor(T, F))   #a factor containing logicals:           factor
class(hms::hms(3600)) #hour minute second timestamp            hms difftime
class(c(T, F))        #T and F are builtins:                   logical
class(1:10)           #a builtin sequence of numerics:         integer
class(NA)             #The builtin value not available:        logical

#The R coolaid punchbowl has been spiked: stay frosty and keep your head low:
class(c(list(T)))       #a vector of lists of logical:         list
class(list(c(T)))       #a list of vectors of logical:         list
class(c(T, 3.14))       #a vector of logicals and doubles:     numeric
class(c(3.14, "foo"))   #a vector of doubles and characters:   character
class(c("foo",list(T))) #a vector of strings and lists:        list
class(list("foo",c(T))) #a list of strings and vectors:        list
class(TRUE + 5L)        #a logical plus an integer:            integer
class(c(TRUE, 5L)[1])   #The true is coerced to 1              integer
class(c(c(2i), TRUE)[1])#logical coerced to complex:           complex
class(c(NaN, 'batman')) #NaN's in a vector don't dominate:     character
class(5 && 4)           #doubles are coerced by order of &&    logical
class(8 < 'foobar')     #string and double is coerced          logical
class(list(4, T)[[1]])  #a list retains class at every index:  numeric
class(list(4, T)[[2]])  #a list retains class at every index:  logical
class(2 ** 5)           #result of exponentiation              numeric
class(0E0)              #exponential lol notation              numeric
class(0x3fade)          #hexidecimal                           numeric
class(paste(3, '3'))     #paste promotes class to string       character
class(3 + 四)           #R pukes on unicode                   error
class(iconv("a", "latin1", "UTF-8")) #UTF-8 characters         character
class(5 == 5)           #result of a comparison:               logical

Get the data storage.mode of your variable

When an R variable is written to disk, the data layout changes yet again, and is called the data's storage.mode. The function storage.mode(...) reveals this low level information: see Mode, Class, and Type of R objects. You shouldn't need to worry about R's storage.mode unless you are trying to understand delays caused by round trip casts/coercions that occur when assigning and reading data to and from disk.

Ideology around R's triad typing system:

R's duck typing system has uncertainty in it. As an analogy, consider a ceramic cup, it can be used to hold a liquid, or used as a projectile like a baseball. The purpose of the cup depends on it's available properties and the function acting upon it. This fluidity of type allows greater leeway for programmers to redirect any kind of output from one function into another function, and R will go to great lengths to try to read your mind and do something reasonable.

The idea is that when newbie programmers write R programs via Brownian motion, as they will, they attempt to pass a googah.blimflarg into a vehicle.subspaceresponder(...). Instead of puking a type-error, the R program does gymnastics to transform the type and then do something surprisingly useful. The newbie programmer posts the code on his blog and says "look at this tremendous thing I did with 3 lines of R code! I have no idea how it knows what to do, but it does!"

Answer 3

> mtcars %>% 
+     summarise_all(typeof) %>% 
+     gather
    key  value
1   mpg double
2   cyl double
3  disp double
4    hp double
5  drat double
6    wt double
7  qsec double
8    vs double
9    am double
10 gear double
11 carb double

I try class and typeof functions, but all fails.

Answer 4

Designed to do essentially the inverse of what you wanted, here's one of my toolkit toys:

 lstype<-function(type='closure'){
inlist<-ls(.GlobalEnv)
if (type=='function') type <-'closure'
typelist<-sapply(sapply(inlist,get),typeof)
return(names(typelist[typelist==type]))
}

Answer 5

You need to use get to obtain the value rather than the character name of the object as returned by ls:

x <- 1L
typeof(ls())
[1] "character"
typeof(get(ls()))
[1] "integer"

Alternatively, for the problem as presented you might want to use eapply:

eapply(.GlobalEnv,typeof)
$x
[1] "integer"

$a
[1] "double"

$b
[1] "character"

$c
[1] "list"

Answer 6

lapply(your_dataframe, class) gives you something like:

$tikr [1] "factor"

$Date [1] "Date"

$Open [1] "numeric"

$High [1] "numeric"

... etc.