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These functions are selection helpers.

  • everything() selects all variable. It is also useful in combination with other tidyselect operators.

  • last_col() selects the last variable.

Usage

everything(vars = NULL)

last_col(offset = 0L, vars = NULL)

Arguments

vars

A character vector of variable names. If not supplied, the variables are taken from the current selection context (as established by functions like select() or pivot_longer()).

offset

Set it to n to select the nth var from the end.

Examples

Selection helpers can be used in functions like dplyr::select() or tidyr::pivot_longer(). Let's first attach the tidyverse:

library(tidyverse)

# For better printing
iris <- as_tibble(iris)
mtcars <- as_tibble(mtcars)

Use everything() to select all variables:

iris %>% select(everything())
#> # A tibble: 150 x 5
#>   Sepal.Length Sepal.Width Petal.Length Petal.Width Species
#>          <dbl>       <dbl>        <dbl>       <dbl> <fct>  
#> 1          5.1         3.5          1.4         0.2 setosa 
#> 2          4.9         3            1.4         0.2 setosa 
#> 3          4.7         3.2          1.3         0.2 setosa 
#> 4          4.6         3.1          1.5         0.2 setosa 
#> # i 146 more rows

mtcars %>% pivot_longer(everything())
#> # A tibble: 352 x 2
#>   name  value
#>   <chr> <dbl>
#> 1 mpg      21
#> 2 cyl       6
#> 3 disp    160
#> 4 hp      110
#> # i 348 more rows

Use last_col() to select the last variable:

iris %>% select(last_col())
#> # A tibble: 150 x 1
#>   Species
#>   <fct>  
#> 1 setosa 
#> 2 setosa 
#> 3 setosa 
#> 4 setosa 
#> # i 146 more rows

mtcars %>% pivot_longer(last_col())
#> # A tibble: 32 x 12
#>     mpg   cyl  disp    hp  drat    wt  qsec    vs    am  gear name  value
#>   <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <chr> <dbl>
#> 1  21       6   160   110  3.9   2.62  16.5     0     1     4 carb      4
#> 2  21       6   160   110  3.9   2.88  17.0     0     1     4 carb      4
#> 3  22.8     4   108    93  3.85  2.32  18.6     1     1     4 carb      1
#> 4  21.4     6   258   110  3.08  3.22  19.4     1     0     3 carb      1
#> # i 28 more rows

Supply an offset n to select a variable located n positions from the end:

mtcars %>% select(1:last_col(5))
#> # A tibble: 32 x 6
#>     mpg   cyl  disp    hp  drat    wt
#>   <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl>
#> 1  21       6   160   110  3.9   2.62
#> 2  21       6   160   110  3.9   2.88
#> 3  22.8     4   108    93  3.85  2.32
#> 4  21.4     6   258   110  3.08  3.22
#> # i 28 more rows

See also

The selection language page, which includes links to other selection helpers.