na for write_csv would be cool #187

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1. npjc commented on Jun 16, 2015

   

   npjc

   on Jun 16, 2015

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   Why not do:

   df[is.na(df)] <- ""
   write_csv()

   IMHO this is clearer to understand at a glance and you keep data output and data mutation as distinct as possible.
2. asnr commented on Jul 11, 2015

   

   asnr

   on Jul 11, 2015

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   That's neat! I didn't know is.na worked sensibly with data frames. However, this approach doesn't seem to play well with factors:

   d <- data.frame(x = as.factor(c('foo', NA)))
   d[is.na(d)] <- " "
   #> Warning message:
   #> In `[<-.factor`(`*tmp*`, thisvar, value = " ") :
   #>   invalid factor level, NA generated

   and it also has the side effect of type casting integer, double and logical columns to character:

   e <- data.frame(i = as.integer(c(1, NA)), d = c(0.5, NA), l = c(T, NA))
   e[is.na(e)] <- " "
   str(e)
   #> 'data.frame':    2 obs. of  3 variables:
   #>  $ i: chr  "1" " "
   #>  $ d: chr  "0.5" " "
   #>  $ l: chr  "TRUE" " "

   I'm with @ckluss on this one, I think an na option would be helpful--I often get clients requesting specific missing encodings ("", " ", "NULL", but not "NA" so far). @hadley, what do you think? I'd be happy to implement it if you think it's a good idea.
3. realAkhmed commented on Jul 13, 2015

   

   realAkhmed

   on Jul 13, 2015

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   +1.
   This feature is very important. Say, PostgreSQL is expecting "\N" as NULLs when importing. MySQL is looking for "NULL" as NULL and so on. One can use this (very smart!) trick suggested by @npjc above but this will coerce types.
4. hadley

   closed this as completedin 76aaa54on Sep 3, 2015
5. lock

   locked and limited conversation to collaborators on Sep 25, 2018