How to find if ANY column has a specific value I am looking for?

Question

   id first  middle  last       Age
    1 Carol  Jenny   Smith      15
    2 Sarah  Carol   Roberts    20
    3 Josh   David   Richardson 22

I am t

Answer 1

We can use rowSums

df$Carol <- as.integer(rowSums(df[2:4] == "Carol") > 0)

df
#  id first middle       last Age Carol
#1  1 Carol  Jenny      Smith  15     1
#2  2 Sarah  Carol    Roberts  20     1
#3  3  Josh  David Richardson  22     0

If we need it as a function

fun <- function(df, value) {
   as.integer(rowSums(df[2:4] == value) > 0)
}

fun(df, "Carol")
#[1] 1 1 0
fun(df, "Sarah")
#[1] 0 1 0

but this assumes the columns you want to search are at position 2:4.

To give more flexibility with column position

fun <- function(df, cols, value) {
   as.integer(rowSums(df[cols] == value) > 0)
 }
fun(df, c("first", "last","middle"), "Carol")
#[1] 1 1 0
fun(df, c("first", "last","middle"), "Sarah")
#[1] 0 1 0