readr parse_* and col_* arguments differ

tidyverse
1

Hello,

I am wondering why the parse_* and col_* arguments in the readr functions differ? For example, I was recently working on a project where NA values were coded as 999 and having used the parse_* functions before I was familiar with their na argument that allows you to specify which values are NA. I was hoping the col_* functions would provide a similar argument to facilitate converting these values to NA upon reading the data in thus eliminating the need to do it in a mutate function afterwards.

Is there a specific reason why these function arguments differ given they do very similar things?

All the best,

Tim

2

The na argument is part of the read_*() functions, there is not a per-column na argument.

3

Hi Jim,

Thank you for this, I can't tell you how many times I've used the read_* functions yet I have been unaware of this argument somehow. I will be making use of this going forward!

All the best,

Tim

4

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