R (purrr) flatten list of named lists to list and keep names

Question

Maybe I\'m missing something obvious but trying to flatten a list of named lists of named lists in R (may even be more nested) into eventually one flat list. purrr

Answer 1

I looked at the source for rlist::list.flatten() and copied the source into a new function to avoid that dependency.

my_flatten <- function (x, use.names = TRUE, classes = "ANY") 
{
  #' Source taken from rlist::list.flatten
  len <- sum(rapply(x, function(x) 1L, classes = classes))
  y <- vector("list", len)
  i <- 0L
  items <- rapply(x, function(x) {
    i <<- i + 1L
    y[[i]] <<- x
    TRUE
  }, classes = classes)
  if (use.names && !is.null(nm <- names(items))) 
    names(y) <- nm
  y
}

alist <- list(list1 = list(a = 1, b = 2, blist = list(a = 3, b = 4)),
              list2 = list(a = 1, b = 2, blist = list(a = 3, b = 4)))


flat_list <- my_flatten(alist)

str(flat_list)

---

Result:

List of 8
 $ list1.a      : num 1
 $ list1.b      : num 2
 $ list1.blist.a: num 3
 $ list1.blist.b: num 4
 $ list2.a      : num 1
 $ list2.b      : num 2
 $ list2.blist.a: num 3
 $ list2.blist.b: num 4