By using methods from R base, dplyr and tidyr packages we can replace zero (0) with NA value on dataframe columns. In this article, I have covered 10 ways to replace. Also, I have covered replace 0 with NA on a single column, multiple columns and by index position in an R dataframe.
1. Quick Examples of Replace Zero with NA Value
Following are quick examples of how to replace zero with NA values in an R Dataframe.
# Quick Examples
#Example 1 - Replace on all columns
df[df == 0] <- NA
#Example 2 - Replace on selected olumns
df["pages"][df["pages"] == 0] <- NA
#Example 3 - Replace using negation
is.na(df) <- !df
#Example 4 - Using replace() function
df <- replace(df, df==0, NA)
#Example 5 - Replace using dplyr::na_if()
library(dplyr)
df <- na_if(df, 0)
#Example 6 - Replace using dplyr::mutate_all()
library(dplyr)
df <- df %>% mutate_all(~na_if(., 0)))
#Example 7 - Replace only on all Numeric columns
library(dplyr)
df <- df %>% mutate_if(is.numeric, ~na_if(., 0))
#Example 8 - Replace only on selected columns
library(dplyr)
df <- df %>% mutate_at(c('pages'), ~na_if(., 0))
#Example 9 - Replace only on selected column index
library(dplyr)
df <- df %>% mutate_at(c(2), ~na_if(., 0))
#Example 10 - Replacing on tibble
df <-tibble(
col1 = c("A", B, "NA"),
col2 = c(0, 2, NA),
col3 = c(1, NA, 5)
)
df <- df %>% mutate_if(is.numeric , replace_na, replace = 0)
Let’s create an R dataframe, run these examples and validate the results.
# Create dataframe with numeric columns
df=data.frame(pages=c(32,0,0),
chapters=c(20,86,0),
price=c(144,0,321))
#Output
# pages chapters price
#1 32 20 144
#2 0 86 0
#3 0 0 321
2. Replace 0 with NA in an R Dataframe
As you saw above R provides several ways to replace 0 with NA on dataframe, among all the first approach would be using the directly R base feature. Use df[df==0] to check if the value of a dataframe column is 0, if it is 0 you can assign the value NA. The below example replaces all 0 values on all columns with NA.
Related: Refer to this article, if you wanted to replace NA with 0 before processing your data.
#Example 1 - Replace on all columns
df[df == 0] <- NA
print(df)
#Output
# pages chapters price
#1 32 20 144
#2 NA 86 NA
#3 NA NA 321
This is the most generic approach where you can use this on vector as well to replace its values.
3. Replace using Negation
Alternatively, you can also achieve using negation and is.na() function.
#Example 2 - Replace using negation
is.na(df) <- !df
print(df)
Yields the same output as above
4. Replace Selected Columns
When you have multiple columns in R dataframe and you would require to select a single column to replace 0 with NA, you can achieve this by following. This updates only column pages.
#Example 3 - Replace on selected columns
df["pages"][df["pages"] == 0] <- NA
print(df)
#Output
# pages chapters price
#1 32 20 144
#2 NA 86 0
#3 NA 0 321
5. Using R replace() function to update 0 with NA
R has a built-in function called replace() that replaces values in a vector with another value, for example, zeros with NAs.
#Example 4 - Using replace() function
df <- replace(df, df==0, NA)
print(df)
#Output
# pages chapters price
#1 32 20 144
#2 NA 86 NA
#3 NA NA 321
6. Update 0 with NA using R dplyr::na_if()
All previous examples use the Base R built-in functions that can be used on a smaller dataset but, for bigger data sets, you have to use methods from dplyr package as they perform 30% faster. dplyr package uses C++ code to evaluate.
The dplyr is third-party package that is required to install first using install.packages('dplyr') and load it using library("dplyr"). na_if() is a method from dplyr package.
#Example 5 - Replace using dplyr::na_if()
library("dplyr")
df <- na_if(df, 0)
print(df)
#Output
# pages chapters price
#1 32 20 144
#2 NA 86 NA
#3 NA NA 321
7. Update 0 with NA using dplyr::mutate_all()
mutate_all() is another method in dplyr package to substitute the zero with NA value on all dataframe columns.
#Example 6 - Replace using dplyr::mutate_all()
library(dplyr)
df <- df %>% mutate_all(~na_if(., 0))
print(df)
#Output
# pages chapters price
#1 32 20 144
#2 NA 86 NA
#3 NA NA 321
8. Replace on All Numeric columns
mutate_if() affects variables selected with a predicate function, here is.numeric is used as a predicate to replace values only on numeric columns. Since we have all numeric columns, it updates all columns with NA for value 0.
#Example 7 - Replace only on all Numeric columns
library(dplyr)
df <- df %>% mutate_if(is.numeric, ~na_if(., 0))
print(df)
#Output
# pages chapters price
#1 32 20 144
#2 NA 86 NA
#3 NA NA 321
Yields the same output as above.
9. Replace Zero with NA Only on Selected Columns
mutate_at() affects variables selected with a character vector or vars(). Here we update values only on pages column.
#Example 8 - Replace only on selected columns
library(dplyr)
df <- df %>% mutate_at(c('pages'), ~na_if(., 0))
print(df)
#Output
# pages chapters price
#1 32 20 144
#2 NA 86 0
#3 NA 0 321
10. Replace Zero with NA on Selected Column Indexs
If you pass a vector with index position to mutate_at(), it replaces all NA with 0 on selected index position columns in R dataframe. This updates index 2 which is chapters column. Note that in R the index starts from 1.
#Example 9 - Replace only on selected column index
library(dplyr)
df <- df %>% mutate_at(c(2), ~na_if(., 0))
print(df)
#Output
# pages chapters price
#1 32 20 144
#2 0 86 0
#3 0 NA 321
11. Replacing on tibble
If you have tibble, use the following approach to replace it. Use tibble() to create a tibble.
#Example 10 - Replacing on tibble
df <-tibble(
col1 = c("A", B, "NA"),
col2 = c(0, 2, NA),
col3 = c(1, NA, 5)
)
df <- df %>% mutate_if(is.numeric , replace_na, replace = 0)
print(df)
#Output
# A tibble: 3 × 3
# col1 col2 col3
# <chr> <dbl> <dbl>
#1 A 0 1
#2 B 2 0
#3 NA 0 5
12. Conclusion
In this article, I have covered 10 ways to replace the zero with NA value in R dataframe. Also, I have covered how to replace on a single column, multiple columns, and columns by index positions using R base function and dplyr package methods.
Related Articles
- How to Replace NA with 0 in Multiple R Dataframe Columns?
- How to Replace NA with Empty String in a R Dataframe?
- R – Replace Empty String with NA
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- How to Replace Column Value with Another Column
- R dplyr::mutate() – Replace Column Values
- How to Replace String with Another String or Character
- How to Replace Values Based on Condition
- R – str_replace() to Replace Matched Patterns in a String.
- How to Replace NA with 0 in Multiple Columns
