Use dplyr coalesce in programming

Question

I'd like to use dplyr's programming magic, new to version 0.7.0, to coalesce two columns together. Below, I've listed out a few of my attempts.

df <- data_frame(x = c(1, 2, NA), y = c(2, NA, 3))

# What I want to do:
mutate(df, y = coalesce(x, y))

# Here's the expected output:
#> # A tibble: 3 x 2
#>       x     y
#>   <dbl> <dbl>
#> 1     1     1
#> 2     2     2
#> 3    NA     3

I thought fn1 would work, but it's treating varname as character on the right-hand side.

fn1 <- function(varname) {
  mutate(df, UQ(varname) := coalesce(x, !!varname))
}
fn1("y")
# Error in mutate_impl(.data, dots) : 
#   Evaluation error: Argument 2 must be type double, not character. 

Another attempt with enquo:

fn2 <- function(varname) {
  varname <- enquo(varname)
  mutate(df, varname := coalesce(x, !!varname))
}
fn2("y")  # same error

Maybe I can splice with !!! instead? (Spoiler: I can't.)

fn3 <- function(varname) {
  varnames <- c("x", varname)
  mutate(df, UQ(varname) := coalesce(!!! varnames))
}
fn3("y")
#> # A tibble: 3 x 2
#>       x     y
#>   <dbl> <chr>
#> 1     1     x
#> 2     2     x
#> 3    NA     x

fn4 <- function(varname) {
  varnames <- quo(c("x", varname))
  mutate(df, UQ(varname) := coalesce(!!! varnames))
}
fn4("y")
# Error in mutate_impl(.data, dots) : 
#   Column `y` must be length 3 (the number of rows) or one, not 2 

Answer 1

The following two approaches will work.

library(dplyr)

# Define a function to apply coalesce
col_fun1 <- function(df, Cols){
  df2 <- df %>%
    mutate(y = coalesce(!!!as.list(df %>% select(UQ(Cols)))))
  return(df2)
}

# Test the function
col_fun1(df = df, Cols = c("x", "y"))
# A tibble: 3 x 2
      x     y
  <dbl> <dbl>
1     1     1
2     2     2
3    NA     3

Or Try this.

# Define a function to apply coalesce
col_fun2 <- function(df, Cols){
  df2 <- df %>%
    mutate(y = coalesce(!!!as.list(df[, Cols])))
  return(df2)
}

# Test the function
col_fun2(df = df, Cols = c("x", "y"))
# A tibble: 3 x 2
      x     y
  <dbl> <dbl>
1     1     1
2     2     2
3    NA     3

Answer 2

You need to use !!sym for varname on the right side

library(rlang)
fn1 <- function(varname) {
  mutate(df, !!varname := coalesce(x, !!sym(varname)))
}

fn1("y")

# A tibble: 3 x 2
#      x     y
#  <dbl> <dbl>
#1     1     1
#2     2     2
#3    NA     3

Or use UQ:

fn1 <- function(varname) {
    mutate(df, UQ(varname) := coalesce(x, UQ(sym(varname))))
}