How to Use select_if with Multiple Conditions in dplyr

You can use the following basic syntax with the select_if() function from the dplyr package to select columns in a data frame that meet one of several conditions:

df %>% select_if(function(x) condition1 | condition2)

The following examples show how to use this syntax in practice.

Example 1: Use select_if() with Class Types

The following code shows how to use the select_if() function to select the columns in a data frame that have a class type of character or numeric:

library(dplyr)

#create data frame
df frame(team=c('A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E'),
                 conference=as.factor(c('W', 'W', 'W', 'E', 'E')),
                 points_for=c(99, 90, 86, 88, 95),
                 points_against=c(91, 80, 88, 86, 93))

#select all character and numeric columns
df %>% select_if(function(x) is.character(x) | is.numeric(x))

  team points_for points_against
1    A         99             91
2    B         90             80
3    C         86             88
4    D         88             86
5    E         95             93

Notice that the one character column (team) and the two numeric columns (points_for and points_against) are returned while the factor column (conference) is not returned.

Example 2: Use select_if() with Class Types and Column Names

The following code shows how to use the select_if() function to select the columns in a data frame that have a class type of factor or have a column name of points_for:

library(dplyr)

#create data frame
df frame(team=c('A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E'),
                 conference=as.factor(c('W', 'W', 'W', 'E', 'E')),
                 points_for=c(99, 90, 86, 88, 95),
                 points_against=c(91, 80, 88, 86, 93))

#select all factor columns and 'points_for' column
df %>% select_if(function(x) is.factor(x) | all(x == .$points_for))

  conference points_for
1          W         99
2          W         90
3          W         86
4          E         88
5          E         95

Notice that the one factor column and the one column titled points_for are returned.

Note: The | symbol is the “OR” logical operator in R. Feel free to use as many | symbols as you’d like to select columns using more than two conditions.

Additional Resources

The following tutorials explain how to use other common functions in dplyr:

How to Use the across() Function in dplyr
How to Use the relocate() Function in dplyr
How to Use the slice() Function in dplyr