Maybe I am mistaken, but my code seems to work with a 0 index. In my final do.call I don't need anything if the index was 0. I've tested Bert's solution vs. my original one. It's about 25% faster. So, thanks a lot, Bert. Dimitri
On Tue, Feb 12, 2013 at 5:52 PM, Bert Gunter <gunter.ber...@gene.com> wrote: > The answer is essentially no, a loop is required (as best I can see), > although it can be in the form of an apply type call instead. Also, > your code will fail with a 0 index. Something like this should work: > > newlist <- lapply(1:3,function(i)if(!neededcolumns[i])NULL else > mylist[[c(i,neededcolumns[i])]]) > > ## note the use of [[c(i,j)]] form for selecting columns as an > element from a list of lists > > ## Note that your cbind call produces a matrix, not a list. > > -- Bert > > > You might wish to check the parallel package, as this looks like the > sort of thing parallellization could be profitably used for; but I > have no experience to offer beyond that suggestion. > > -- Bert > > On Tue, Feb 12, 2013 at 1:33 PM, Dimitri Liakhovitski > <dimitri.liakhovit...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Hello! > > > > # I have a list with several data frames: > > mylist<-list(data.frame(a=1:2,b=2:3), > > data.frame(a=3:4,b=5:6),data.frame(a=7:8,b=9:10)) > > (mylist) > > > > # I want to grab only one specific column from each list element > > neededcolumns<-c(1,2,0) # number of the column I need from each element > of > > the list > > > > # Below, I am doing it using a loop: > > newlist<-NULL > > for(i in 1:length(mylist) ) { > > newlist[[i]]<-mylist[[i]] [neededcolumns[i]] > > } > > newlist<-do.call(cbind,newlist) > > (newlist) > > > > I was wondering if there is any way to avoid the loop above and make it > > faster. > > In reality, I have a much longer list, each of my data frames is much > > larger and I have to do it MANY-MANY times. > > Thanks a lot! > > > > Dimitri Liakhovitski > > gfk.com <http://marketfusionanalytics.com/> > > > > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] > > > > ______________________________________________ > > R-help@r-project.org mailing list > > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > > PLEASE do read the posting guide > http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html<http://www.r-project.org/posting-guide.html> > > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. > > > > -- > > Bert Gunter > Genentech Nonclinical Biostatistics > > Internal Contact Info: > Phone: 467-7374 > Website: > > http://pharmadevelopment.roche.com/index/pdb/pdb-functional-groups/pdb-biostatistics/pdb-ncb-home.htm > -- Dimitri Liakhovitski gfk.com <http://marketfusionanalytics.com/> [[alternative HTML version deleted]] ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.