Reshaping wide and long in R

Base R's reshape between wide and long layouts.

wide <- data.frame(
  id = 1:2,
  q1 = c(10, 20),
  q2 = c(15, 25)
)

long <- reshape(wide, direction = "long",
                varying = c("q1", "q2"),
                v.names = "value",
                timevar = "quarter",
                idvar = "id")

back <- reshape(long, direction = "wide",
                idvar = "id", timevar = "quarter")

How it works

1. direction = "long" stacks the varying columns.
2. timevar and idvar name the new key columns.
3. The same call with "wide" reverses it.

Keywords and builtins used here

• c
• reshape

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Step 2 of 4 in Reshaping & combining, step 5 of 8 in Data frames in base R.

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