Load and/or save a dataset — ecodata • ecodata

Load a dataset directly to an R object, save it as file, or both.

ecodata(subdiscipline, topic, dataset, path)

# S4 method for missing,missing,missing,missing
ecodata()

# S4 method for character,missing,missing,missing
ecodata(subdiscipline)

# S4 method for character,character,missing,missing
ecodata(subdiscipline, topic)

# S4 method for character,character,character,missing
ecodata(subdiscipline, topic, dataset)

# S4 method for character,character,character,character
ecodata(subdiscipline, topic, dataset, path)

Arguments

subdiscipline	A string containing the name of an ecological discipline
topic	A string containing the name of an analytical topic
dataset	A string containing the name of a dataset
path	A string containing the path to save the data file

Value

An R object

Details

This function is used to load one of the static or dynamic datasets provided by the package. It can be either loaded directly into R as an object, or it can be saved to a file by specifying the path parameter, or both.

Examples

# Try running the ecodata() without any arguments. You'll get some information
# about valid options for the first parameter.
data <- ecodata::ecodata()
#> A list of subdisciplines. Choose one for the first parameter:
#> 
#> "Quantitative Ecology"
#>      QE Description 
#> 
#> "Spatial Ecology"
#>      SE Description 
#> 

# Note that the function returns NULL at this point
print(data)
#> NULL

# Repeat this process until we get data
data <- ecodata::ecodata("Quantitative Ecology")
#> A list of topics for Quantitative Ecology. Choose one for the second parameter:
#> 
#> "Distributions"
#>      Data for various statistical distributions 
#> 
#> "Generalized Linear Models"
#>       
#> 
#> "Occupancy"
#>       
#> 

# Instead of NULl this time, we get the information that was printed out. It may
# or many not be useful to store in a variable for later reference without having
# to run the function again.
head(data)
#>                       topic                                description
#> 2             Distributions Data for various statistical distributions
#> 3 Generalized Linear Models                                           
#> 4                 Occupancy                                           

# Repeat this process until we get data
data <- ecodata::ecodata("Quantitative Ecology", "Distributions")
#> A list of topics for Quantitative Ecology and Distributions. Choose one for the third parameter:
#> 
#> "Normal Random Sets"
#>      A data frame containing several sets of normally distributed random numbers 
#> 
head(data)
#>              dataset
#> 2 Normal Random Sets
#>                                                                   description
#> 2 A data frame containing several sets of normally distributed random numbers
data <- ecodata::ecodata("Quantitative Ecology", "Distributions", "Normal Random Sets")
head(data)
#>         m0_sd1     m1_sd1      m1_sd2     m2_sd2
#> 1 -1.400043517  0.6632850  0.66750763 4.24123130
#> 2  0.255317055  0.7841598  1.24043707 2.79979531
#> 3 -2.437263611  1.6211323 -0.32346862 0.03094468
#> 4 -0.005571287 -0.2840265 -0.06124515 0.99487563
#> 5  0.621552721 -0.3000924  0.39716259 3.97429688
#> 6  1.148411606  0.6232305 -0.20460321 6.38296202

# This particular data set is actually dynamically generated. This means that
# running it again should produce different results.
data <- ecodata::ecodata("Quantitative Ecology", "Distributions", "Normal Random Sets")
head(data)
#>       m0_sd1      m1_sd1     m1_sd2     m2_sd2
#> 1 -0.7733135  2.90029082  0.2108509 -0.5081599
#> 2  3.4805397  0.19312233 -3.3071172  1.7408031
#> 3 -0.6174220 -0.39633665 -0.7425115  2.8749540
#> 4  0.5207824  0.02515786  0.8773875  0.4820917
#> 5  0.5925403  1.43501099 -2.6091138  3.5131325
#> 6 -0.9003468  0.24952342  3.2440206  0.7082751