Apply recode specification to a data.table

Reads the recode spec from stamp (synced once upstream by sync_recode_spec()) and applies all matching rules to dt.

Usage

apply_recode_spec(dt, alias = "pip_inv", verbose = TRUE, recode_spec = NULL)

Arguments

dt

data.table with DLW survey data.

alias

Stamp alias. Default: "pip_inv".

verbose

Logical. Default: TRUE.

recode_spec

Optional pre-resolved spec as returned by sync_recode_spec() — a named list with spec (the full recode spec) and version_id. When supplied, the spec and version are taken from it and no stamp I/O is performed. When NULL (the default), the spec is read from stamp on each call. In the per-survey pipeline the spec is synced once upstream and threaded in via this argument to avoid thousands of redundant catalog reads.

Value

dt (modified by reference) with attribute recode_spec_version_id.

Details

Replace-type recodes (range_clamp, binary_map, haven_labels): if source_column differs from var_name, the source column is renamed to var_name after the recode (dropping the source). Example: urban → area, male → gender.

Derive-type recodes (binned_from_continuous, quantile_from_continuous): the source column is preserved and var_name is added as a new column. Example: age stays, age_group is added.

The stamp version_id of the active spec is attached as attribute "recode_spec_version_id" on the returned dt.