Can't transform a data frame with duplicate names

[adambickford]

I have started getting these strange errors with simple commands. For example,
I am attempting to sort and filter a data frame by a single key value:

apidata$geoid <- paste0(apidata$state,apidata$county)
        
        tmp_data <- apidata %>%  arrange(geoid)

which produces this error:

Error in `arrange()`:
! Problem with the implicit `transmute()` step.
Caused by error in `transmute()`:
! Can't transform a data frame with duplicate names.
Run `rlang::last_error()` to see where the error occurred.
Called from: signal_abort(cnd, .file)

This is pretty basic dplyr code. I have checked the variables, "geoid" is not duplicated in the columns of my data frame, nor are there any duplicate records in the data frame.

here is the session info:

R version 4.1.2 (2021-11-01)
Platform: x86_64-w64-mingw32/x64 (64-bit)
Running under: Windows 10 x64 (build 17134)

Matrix products: default

locale:
[1] LC_COLLATE=English_United States.1252  LC_CTYPE=English_United States.1252    LC_MONETARY=English_United States.1252
[4] LC_NUMERIC=C                           LC_TIME=English_United States.1252    

attached base packages:
[1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base     

other attached packages:
 [1] jsonlite_1.8.0    openxlsx_4.2.5    readxl_1.3.1      censusapi_0.7.1   tidycensus_1.1.2  forcats_0.5.1     stringr_1.4.0    
 [8] dplyr_1.0.8       purrr_0.3.4       readr_2.1.2       tidyr_1.2.0       tibble_3.1.6      ggplot2_3.3.5     tidyverse_1.3.1  
[15] RPostgreSQL_0.7-3 DBI_1.1.2        

loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
 [1] Rcpp_1.0.8         lubridate_1.8.0    lattice_0.20-45    class_7.3-19       assertthat_0.2.1   utf8_1.2.2         R6_2.5.1          
 [8] cellranger_1.1.0   backports_1.4.1    reprex_2.0.1       e1071_1.7-9        httr_1.4.2         pillar_1.7.0       rlang_1.0.1       
[15] uuid_1.0-3         rstudioapi_0.13    rgdal_1.5-28       foreign_0.8-81     munsell_0.5.0      proxy_0.4-26       broom_0.7.12      
[22] compiler_4.1.2     modelr_0.1.8       pkgconfig_2.0.3    tigris_1.6         tidyselect_1.1.2   fansi_1.0.2        crayon_1.5.0      
[29] tzdb_0.2.0         dbplyr_2.1.1       withr_2.5.0        later_1.3.0        sf_1.0-7           rappdirs_0.3.3     grid_4.1.2        
[36] gtable_0.3.0       lifecycle_1.0.1    magrittr_2.0.2     units_0.8-0        scales_1.1.1       zip_2.2.0          KernSmooth_2.23-20
[43] cli_3.2.0          stringi_1.7.6      fs_1.5.2           sp_1.4-6           xml2_1.3.3         ellipsis_0.3.2     generics_0.1.2    
[50] vctrs_0.3.8        tools_4.1.2        glue_1.6.2         hms_1.1.1          colorspace_2.0-3   maptools_1.1-3     pool_0.1.6        
[57] classInt_0.4-3     rvest_1.0.2        haven_2.4.3       

What is happening?
TIA

[adambickford]

This must not be my day...
I am getting the same error with a mutate command:

tmp_data <- apidata %>%
           mutate(geoid = paste0(state,county)) %>%
          filter(geoid %in% ctyFips)

returns

Error in `mutate()`:
! Can't transform a data frame with duplicate names.
Run `rlang::last_error()` to see where the error occurred.

is this a dplyr problem?
AB

[pieterjanvc]

Hi,

In order for us to help you with your question, please provide us a minimal reproducible example where you provide a minimal (dummy) dataset and code that can recreate the issue. Once we have that, we can go from there. For help on creating a Reprex, see this guide:

FAQ: How to do a minimal reproducible example ( reprex ) for beginners

A minimal reproducible example consists of the following items: A minimal dataset, necessary to reproduce the issue The minimal runnable code necessary to reproduce the issue, which can be run on the given dataset, and including the necessary information on the used packages. Let's quickly go over each one of these with examples: Minimal Dataset (Sample Data) You need to provide a data frame that is small enough to be (reasonably) pasted on a post, but big enough to reproduce your issue. Let's say, as an example, that you are working with the iris data frame head(iris) #> Sepal.Length Sepal.Width Petal.Length Petal.Width Species #> 1 5.1 3.5 1.4 0.…

Good luck!
PJ

[nirgrahamuk]

You should run

names(apidata)

To see what your column names are.

[k.owusu.tieku]

Have you performed some of the basic debugging as suggested in the responses?
1- execute the 'rlang::last_error()' and see if you get more details
2- try distinct(apidata$state) %>% view () # to inspect the values in the state, do same for country, anything odd in there?
3- execute paste0(state,county) and see if that works, inspect the values generated

good luck

[adambickford]

Thanks for the suggestions. There was a problem with rlang, which is a support library for the tidyverse suite. I removed rlang and reinstalled it. Things have been working okay.
So it goes.
Cheers--
AB