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PORe-align column in data frame into multiple columns
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copied!<p>I'm trying to change a data frame column (<code>var3</code>, in the example below) that has multiple values for factor levels of another variable (<code>names</code>, in the example below). I'd like <code>var3</code> to be split into separate columns, one for each value, so that the factor levels in <code>names</code> do not repeat. My other variables (<code>var1</code>, <code>var2</code>) repeat where necessary to provide space for <code>var3</code>.</p> <p>This is the kind of data I have:</p> <pre><code>df1 <- structure(list(name = structure(c(2L, 4L, 4L, 4L, 3L, 5L, 5L, 1L), .Label = c("fifth", "first", "fourth", "second", "third" ), class = "factor"), var1 = c(90L, 84L, 84L, 84L, 18L, 22L, 22L, 36L), var2 = c(301L, 336L, 336L, 336L, 412L, 296L, 296L, 357L), var3 = c(-0.582075925, -1.108889624, -1.014962009, -0.162309524, -0.282309524, 0.563055819, -0.232075925, -0.773353424)), .Names = c("name", "var1", "var2", "var3"), class = "data.frame", row.names = c(NA, -8L)) </code></pre> <p>This is what i'd like:</p> <pre><code>df2 <- structure(list(name = structure(c(2L, 4L, 3L, 5L, 1L), .Label = c("fifth", "first", "fourth", "second", "third"), class = "factor"), var1 = c(90L, 84L, 18L, 22L, 36L), var2 = c(301L, 336L, 412L, 296L, 357L), var3 = c(-0.582075925, -1.108889624, -0.282309524, 0.563055819, -0.773353424), var3.2 = c(NA, -1.014962009, NA, -0.232075925, NA), var3.3 = c(NA, -0.162309524, NA, NA, NA)), .Names = c("name", "var1", "var2", "var3", "var3.2", "var3.3"), class = "data.frame", row.names = c(NA, -5L)) </code></pre> <p>I've looked at <code>reshape</code> and <code>ddply</code>, but can't get them to give me this output.</p>

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