Difference between if() and ifelse() functions

Question

I want to dummy code i.e. create flag variables for column Species.

I wrote the below code:

create_dummies <- function(data, categorical_preds){
          


        

Answer 1

The warning message:

  the condition has length > 1 and only the first element will be used

tells you that using a vector in if condition is equivalent to use its first element :

[if (v == 1)] ~ [if (v[1] == 1)] ## v here is a vector

You should use the vectorized ifelse. For example you can write your condition like this:

create_dummies<-function(data, categorical_preds){
  ## here I show only the first condition 
  data$setosa_flg <-
       ifelse (categorical_preds=="setosa",1,0)
  data
}