I'm looking to find a solution here that would decide between 3-4 columns on a line-by-line basis (apply?), and allocate the name of highest value column in a new column [df$NAME]. Below is what I'd like the result to look like; what is the best approach for this? Thank you!
| Bird | Cat | Dog | NAME
| 3 | 4 | 10 | DOG
| 5 | 2 | 4 | BIRD
| 3 | 6 | 2 | CAT
| 4 | 8 | 9 | DOG
Is there something like a pmax index? is perfect for you.
The max.col()-based solution (second answer in the linked question) is preferable to the apply()-based solution, both for simplicity and efficiency.
df$NAME <- names(df)[max.col(df)];
df;
## Bird Cat Dog NAME
## 1 3 4 10 Dog
## 2 5 2 4 Bird
## 3 3 6 2 Cat
## 4 4 8 9 Dog
Data
df <- data.frame(Bird=c(3L,5L,3L,4L),Cat=c(4L,2L,6L,8L),Dog=c(10L,4L,2L,9L));
