gather and spread R code example

Example 1: spread vs gather R

table2

## Source: local data frame [12 x 4]
## 
##        country year        key      value
## 1  Afghanistan 1999      cases        745
## 2  Afghanistan 1999 population   19987071
## 3  Afghanistan 2000      cases       2666
## 4  Afghanistan 2000 population   20595360
## 5       Brazil 1999      cases      37737
## 6       Brazil 1999 population  172006362
## 7       Brazil 2000      cases      80488
## 8       Brazil 2000 population  174504898
## 9        China 1999      cases     212258
## 10       China 1999 population 1272915272
## 11       China 2000      cases     213766
## 12       China 2000 population 1280428583

library(tidyr)
spread(table2, key, value)

## Source: local data frame [6 x 4]
## 
##       country year  cases population
## 1 Afghanistan 1999    745   19987071
## 2 Afghanistan 2000   2666   20595360
## 3      Brazil 1999  37737  172006362
## 4      Brazil 2000  80488  174504898
## 5       China 1999 212258 1272915272
## 6       China 2000 213766 1280428583

Example 2: spread vs gather R

table5  # population

## Source: local data frame [3 x 3]
## 
##       country       1999       2000
## 1 Afghanistan   19987071   20595360
## 2      Brazil  172006362  174504898
## 3       China 1272915272 1280428583

gather(table5, "year", "population", 2:3)

## Source: local data frame [6 x 3]
## 
##       country year population
## 1 Afghanistan 1999   19987071
## 2      Brazil 1999  172006362
## 3       China 1999 1272915272
## 4 Afghanistan 2000   20595360
## 5      Brazil 2000  174504898
## 6       China 2000 1280428583