# Tidyverse Patterns

> Modern tidyverse patterns for R including pipes, joins, grouping, purrr, and stringr. Use when mentions "native pipe", "pipe nativo", "pipe operator", "operador pipe", "|>", "new pipe", "novo pipe", "is this the new pipe", "é o novo pipe", "join_by", "join_by()", "join syntax", "sintaxe de join", "relacionamento de join", ".by grouping", ".by", "per-operation grouping", "agrupamento por operação", "agrupamento por operacao", "across()", "pick()", "reframe()", "list_rbind", "list_rbind()", "list_cbind", "list_cbind()", "modern tidyverse", "tidyverse moderno", "latest tidyverse", "tidyverse atual", "dplyr 1.1", "dplyr 1.1 features", "recursos dplyr 1.1", "latest dplyr", "modern patterns", "padrões modernos", "padroes modernos", "usar pipe nativo", "use native pipe", "usar |>", "use |>", "agrupar por operação", "agrupar por operacao", "per-operation group", writing modern tidyverse R code with latest patterns, or implementing current dplyr 1.1+ features. ONLY FOR R - do NOT activate for pandas pipe, Python dplyr

- Skill: `giulsposito/tidyverse-patterns` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add giulsposito/tidyverse-patterns`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/giulsposito/tidyverse-patterns/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Data & Analytics
- Author: GiulSposito (https://skillmd.com/u/giulsposito)
- Updated: 2026-09-22
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/giulsposito/tidyverse-patterns

---


# Modern Tidyverse Patterns

*Best practices for modern tidyverse development with dplyr 1.1+ and R 4.3+*

## Core Principles

1. **Use modern tidyverse patterns** - Prioritize dplyr 1.1+ features, native pipe, and current APIs
2. **Profile before optimizing** - Use profvis and bench to identify real bottlenecks
3. **Write readable code first** - Optimize only when necessary and after profiling
4. **Follow tidyverse style guide** - Consistent naming, spacing, and structure

## Pipe Usage (`|>` not `%>%`)

- **Always use native pipe `|>` instead of magrittr `%>%`**
- R 4.3+ provides all needed features

```r
# Good - Modern native pipe
data |>
  filter(year >= 2020) |>
  summarise(mean_value = mean(value))

# Avoid - Legacy magrittr pipe
data %>%
  filter(year >= 2020) %>%
  summarise(mean_value = mean(value))
```

## Join Syntax (dplyr 1.1+)

- **Use `join_by()` instead of character vectors for joins**
- **Support for inequality, rolling, and overlap joins**

```r
# Good - Modern join syntax
transactions |>
  inner_join(companies, by = join_by(company == id))

# Good - Inequality joins
transactions |>
  inner_join(companies, join_by(company == id, year >= since))

# Good - Rolling joins (closest match)
transactions |>
  inner_join(companies, join_by(company == id, closest(year >= since)))

# Avoid - Old character vector syntax
transactions |>
  inner_join(companies, by = c("company" = "id"))
```

## Multiple Match Handling

- **Use `multiple` and `unmatched` arguments for quality control**

```r
# Expect 1:1 matches, error on multiple
inner_join(x, y, by = join_by(id), multiple = "error")

# Allow multiple matches explicitly
inner_join(x, y, by = join_by(id), multiple = "all")

# Ensure all rows match
inner_join(x, y, by = join_by(id), unmatched = "error")
```

## Data Masking and Tidy Selection

- **Understand the difference between data masking and tidy selection**
- **Use `{{}}` (embrace) for function arguments**
- **Use `.data[[]]` for character vectors**

```r
# Data masking functions: arrange(), filter(), mutate(), summarise()
# Tidy selection functions: select(), relocate(), across()

# Function arguments - embrace with {{}}
my_summary <- function(data, group_var, summary_var) {
  data |>
    group_by({{ group_var }}) |>
    summarise(mean_val = mean({{ summary_var }}))
}

# Character vectors - use .data[[]]
for (var in names(mtcars)) {
  mtcars |> count(.data[[var]]) |> print()
}

# Multiple columns - use across()
data |>
  summarise(across({{ summary_vars }}, ~ mean(.x, na.rm = TRUE)))
```

## Modern Grouping and Column Operations

- **Use `.by` for per-operation grouping (dplyr 1.1+)**
- **Use `pick()` for column selection inside data-masking functions**
- **Use `across()` for applying functions to multiple columns**
- **Use `reframe()` for multi-row summaries**

```r
# Good - Per-operation grouping (always returns ungrouped)
data |>
  summarise(mean_value = mean(value), .by = category)

# Good - Multiple grouping variables
data |>
  summarise(total = sum(revenue), .by = c(company, year))

# Good - pick() for column selection
data |>
  summarise(
    n_x_cols = ncol(pick(starts_with("x"))),
    n_y_cols = ncol(pick(starts_with("y")))
  )

# Good - across() for applying functions
data |>
  summarise(across(where(is.numeric), mean, .names = "mean_{.col}"), .by = group)

# Good - reframe() for multi-row results
data |>
  reframe(quantiles = quantile(x, c(0.25, 0.5, 0.75)), .by = group)

# Avoid - Old persistent grouping pattern
data |>
  group_by(category) |>
  summarise(mean_value = mean(value)) |>
  ungroup()
```

## Modern purrr Patterns

- **Use `map() |> list_rbind()`** instead of superseded `map_dfr()`
- **Use `walk()` for side effects** (file writing, plotting)
- **Use `in_parallel()` for scaling** across cores

```r
# Modern data frame row binding (purrr 1.0+)
models <- data_splits |>
  map(\(split) train_model(split)) |>
  list_rbind()  # Replaces map_dfr()

# Column binding
summaries <- data_list |>
  map(\(df) get_summary_stats(df)) |>
  list_cbind()  # Replaces map_dfc()

# Side effects with walk()
plots <- walk2(data_list, plot_names, \(df, name) {
  p <- ggplot(df, aes(x, y)) + geom_point()
  ggsave(name, p)
})

# Parallel processing (purrr 1.1.0+)
library(mirai)
daemons(4)
results <- large_datasets |>
  map(in_parallel(expensive_computation))
daemons(0)
```

## String Manipulation with stringr

- **Use stringr over base R string functions**
- **Consistent `str_` prefix and string-first argument order**
- **Pipe-friendly and vectorized by design**

```r
# Good - stringr (consistent, pipe-friendly)
text |>
  str_to_lower() |>
  str_trim() |>
  str_replace_all("pattern", "replacement") |>
  str_extract("\\d+")

# Common patterns
str_detect(text, "pattern")     # vs grepl("pattern", text)
str_extract(text, "pattern")    # vs complex regmatches()
str_replace_all(text, "a", "b") # vs gsub("a", "b", text)
str_split(text, ",")            # vs strsplit(text, ",")
str_length(text)                # vs nchar(text)
str_sub(text, 1, 5)             # vs substr(text, 1, 5)

# String combination and formatting
str_c("a", "b", "c")            # vs paste0()
str_glue("Hello {name}!")       # templating
str_pad(text, 10, "left")       # padding
str_wrap(text, width = 80)      # text wrapping

# Case conversion
str_to_lower(text)              # vs tolower()
str_to_upper(text)              # vs toupper()
str_to_title(text)              # vs tools::toTitleCase()

# Pattern helpers for clarity
str_detect(text, fixed("$"))    # literal match
str_detect(text, regex("\\d+")) # explicit regex
str_detect(text, coll("e", locale = "fr")) # collation

# Avoid - inconsistent base R functions
grepl("pattern", text)          # argument order varies
regmatches(text, regexpr(...))  # complex extraction
gsub("a", "b", text)           # different arg order
```

## Vectorization and Performance

```r
# Good - vectorized operations
result <- x + y

# Good - Type-stable purrr functions
map_dbl(data, mean)    # always returns double
map_chr(data, class)   # always returns character

# Avoid - Type-unstable base functions
sapply(data, mean)     # might return list or vector

# Avoid - explicit loops for simple operations
result <- numeric(length(x))
for(i in seq_along(x)) {
  result[i] <- x[i] + y[i]
}
```

## Common Anti-Patterns to Avoid

### Legacy Patterns

```r
# Avoid - Old pipe
data %>% function()

# Avoid - Old join syntax
inner_join(x, y, by = c("a" = "b"))

# Avoid - Implicit type conversion
sapply()  # Use map_*() instead

# Avoid - String manipulation in data masking
mutate(data, !!paste0("new_", var) := value)
# Use across() or other approaches instead
```

### Performance Anti-Patterns

```r
# Avoid - Growing objects in loops
result <- c()
for(i in 1:n) {
  result <- c(result, compute(i))  # Slow!
}

# Good - Pre-allocate
result <- vector("list", n)
for(i in 1:n) {
  result[[i]] <- compute(i)
}

# Better - Use purrr
result <- map(1:n, compute)
```

## Migration from Old Patterns

### From Base R to Modern Tidyverse

```r
# Data manipulation
subset(data, condition)          -> filter(data, condition)
data[order(data$x), ]           -> arrange(data, x)
aggregate(x ~ y, data, mean)    -> summarise(data, mean(x), .by = y)

# Functional programming
sapply(x, f)                    -> map(x, f)  # type-stable
lapply(x, f)                    -> map(x, f)

# String manipulation
grepl("pattern", text)          -> str_detect(text, "pattern")
gsub("old", "new", text)        -> str_replace_all(text, "old", "new")
substr(text, 1, 5)              -> str_sub(text, 1, 5)
nchar(text)                     -> str_length(text)
strsplit(text, ",")             -> str_split(text, ",")
paste0(a, b)                    -> str_c(a, b)
tolower(text)                   -> str_to_lower(text)
```

### From Old to New Tidyverse Patterns

```r
# Pipes
data %>% function()             -> data |> function()

# Grouping (dplyr 1.1+)
group_by(data, x) |>
  summarise(mean(y)) |>
  ungroup()                     -> summarise(data, mean(y), .by = x)

# Column selection
across(starts_with("x"))        -> pick(starts_with("x"))  # for selection only

# Joins
by = c("a" = "b")              -> by = join_by(a == b)

# Multi-row summaries
summarise(data, x, .groups = "drop") -> reframe(data, x)

# Data reshaping
gather()/spread()               -> pivot_longer()/pivot_wider()

# String separation (tidyr 1.3+)
separate(col, into = c("a", "b")) -> separate_wider_delim(col, delim = "_", names = c("a", "b"))
extract(col, into = "x", regex)   -> separate_wider_regex(col, patterns = c(x = regex))
```

### Superseded purrr Functions (purrr 1.0+)

```r
map_dfr(x, f)                   -> map(x, f) |> list_rbind()
map_dfc(x, f)                   -> map(x, f) |> list_cbind()
map2_dfr(x, y, f)               -> map2(x, y, f) |> list_rbind()
pmap_dfr(list, f)               -> pmap(list, f) |> list_rbind()
imap_dfr(x, f)                  -> imap(x, f) |> list_rbind()

# For side effects
walk(x, write_file)             # instead of for loops
walk2(data, paths, write_csv)   # multiple arguments
```