I would like to create a new variable which counts the number of previous items in a by group. Here is what I mean, taking the esoph
dataset as an example.
first I sort the dataset by my by group esoph$agegp, esoph$alcgp
and an additional value column -esoph$ncontrols
.
This gives me the following dataset
x<-esoph[order(esoph$agegp, esoph$alcgp, -esoph$ncontrols ), ]
x
agegp alcgp tobgp ncases ncontrols
1 25-34 0-39g/day 0-9g/day 0 40
2 25-34 0-39g/day 10-19 0 10
3 25-34 0-39g/day 20-29 0 6
4 25-34 0-39g/day 30+ 0 5
5 25-34 40-79 0-9g/day 0 27
6 25-34 40-79 10-19 0 7
8 25-34 40-79 30+ 0 7
7 25-34 40-79 20-29 0 4
9 25-34 80-119 0-9g/day 0 2
11 25-34 80-119 30+ 0 2
...
Now, I would like to create a new variable with some sort of index, increasing by one on every row. Whenever the next by group starts, the index goes back to 1.
The resulting table would be the following (with the additional index column):
agegp alcgp tobgp ncases ncontrols index
1 25-34 0-39g/day 0-9g/day 0 40 1
2 25-34 0-39g/day 10-19 0 10 2
3 25-34 0-39g/day 20-29 0 6 3
4 25-34 0-39g/day 30+ 0 5 4
5 25-34 40-79 0-9g/day 0 27 1
6 25-34 40-79 10-19 0 7 2
8 25-34 40-79 30+ 0 7 3
7 25-34 40-79 20-29 0 4 4
9 25-34 80-119 0-9g/day 0 2 1
11 25-34 80-119 30+ 0 2 2
...
How do I calculate this column?
Thanks!