Reading Data in zoo

This vignette gives examples of how to read data in various formats in the zoo package using the read.zoo() function. The function read.zoo() function expects either a text file (or text connection) as input or data frame. The former case is handled by first using read.table() to produce the data frame. (Instead of a text file, the text argument can be used to read a text string that is already stored in R which is used in the examples of this vignette.) Subsequently, read.zoo() provides a wide collection of convenience functionality to turn that data frame into a zoo series with a specific structure and a specific time index. In this vignette, an overview is provided of the wide variety of cases that can be handled with read.zoo(). All examples assume that zoo is already loaded and (if necessary) that the chron package has been loaded as well.

Note that functions read.csv.zoo(), read.csv2.zoo(), read.delim.zoo(), and read.delim2.zoo() are available that call the respective read.*() function instead of read.table() and subsequently read.zoo(). However, these convenience interfaces are not employed in this vignette in order to demonstrate setting all arguments `by hand’.

Example 1

Input class: Text file/connection (space-separated with header).

Input index: integer.

Output class: Multivariate zoo series.

Output index: integer.

Strategy: No transformation of time index needed, hence only a simple call to read.zoo().

Lines <- "
time latitude longitude altitude  distance heartrate
1277648884 0.304048 -0.793819      260  0.000000        94
1277648885 0.304056 -0.793772      262  4.307615        95
1277648894 0.304075 -0.793544      263 25.237911       103
1277648902 0.304064 -0.793387      256 40.042988       115
"
z <- read.zoo(text = Lines, header = TRUE)
z
##            latitude longitude altitude  distance heartrate
## 1277648884 0.304048 -0.793819      260  0.000000        94
## 1277648885 0.304056 -0.793772      262  4.307615        95
## 1277648894 0.304075 -0.793544      263 25.237911       103
## 1277648902 0.304064 -0.793387      256 40.042988       115

Example 2

Input class: data.frame.

Input index: factor with labels indicating AM/PM times but no date.

Output class: Multivariate zoo series.

Output index: times (from chron).

Strategy: The idea is to add some dummy date (here 1970-01-01) to the character lables, then transform to chron and extract the times.

Caveat: The AM/PM labels are locale-dependent (e.g., could be am/pm or a.m./p.m. in other English locales). Hence, it needs to be checked whether the attribute is read correctly in the current locale. Here, a C locale is used to assure reproducibility.

DF <- structure(list(
  Time = structure(1:5, levels = c("7:10:03 AM", "7:10:36 AM",
    "7:11:07 AM", "7:11:48 AM", "7:12:25 AM"), class = "factor"),
  Bid = c(6118.5, 6118.5, 6119.5, 6119, 6119),
  Offer = c(6119.5, 6119.5, 6119.5, 6120, 6119.5)),
  names = c("Time", "Bid", "Offer"), row.names = c(NA, -5L),
  class = "data.frame")
DF
##         Time    Bid  Offer
## 1 7:10:03 AM 6118.5 6119.5
## 2 7:10:36 AM 6118.5 6119.5
## 3 7:11:07 AM 6119.5 6119.5
## 4 7:11:48 AM 6119.0 6120.0
## 5 7:12:25 AM 6119.0 6119.5
z <- read.zoo(DF, FUN = function(x)
  times(as.chron(paste("1970-01-01", x), format = "%Y-%m-%d %I:%M:%S %p")))
z
##             Bid  Offer
## 07:10:03 6118.5 6119.5
## 07:10:36 6118.5 6119.5
## 07:11:07 6119.5 6119.5
## 07:11:48 6119.0 6120.0
## 07:12:25 6119.0 6119.5

Example 3

Input class: Text file/connection (semicolon-separated with header).

Input index: factors with labels indicating dates (column 1) and times (column 2).

Output class: Multivariate zoo series, with separate columns for each date.

Output index: times (from chron).

Strategy: Split the data based on date (column 1) and process times (column 2) to times. Enhance column names at the end.

Lines <- "
Date;Time;Close
01/09/2009;10:00;56567
01/09/2009;10:05;56463
01/09/2009;10:10;56370
01/09/2009;16:45;55771
01/09/2009;16:50;55823
01/09/2009;16:55;55814
02/09/2009;10:00;55626
02/09/2009;10:05;55723
02/09/2009;10:10;55659
02/09/2009;16:45;55742
02/09/2009;16:50;55717
02/09/2009;16:55;55385
"
f <- function(x) times(paste(x, 0, sep = ":"))
z <- read.zoo(text = Lines, header = TRUE, sep = ";", 
  split = 1, index = 2, FUN = f)
colnames(z) <- sub("X(..).(..).(....)", "\\3-\\2-\\1", colnames(z))
z
##          01/09/2009 02/09/2009
## 10:00:00      56567      55626
## 10:05:00      56463      55723
## 10:10:00      56370      55659
## 16:45:00      55771      55742
## 16:50:00      55823      55717
## 16:55:00      55814      55385

Example 4

Input class: Text file/connection (space-separated with header).

Input index: factors with labels indicating dates (column 1) and times (column 2).

Output class: Multivariate zoo series.

Output index: chron (from chron).

Strategy: Indicate vector of two columns in index, which is subsequently processed by a FUN taking two arguments and returning a chron time/date.

Lines <- "
Date Time O H L C
1/2/2005 17:05 1.3546 1.3553 1.3546 1.35495
1/2/2005 17:10 1.3553 1.3556 1.3549 1.35525
1/2/2005 17:15 1.3556 1.35565 1.35515 1.3553
1/2/2005 17:25 1.355 1.3556 1.355 1.3555
1/2/2005 17:30 1.3556 1.3564 1.35535 1.3563
"
f <- function(d, t) as.chron(paste(as.Date(chron(d)), t))
z <- read.zoo(text = Lines, header = TRUE, index = 1:2, FUN = f)
z
##                          O       H       L       C
## (01/02/05 17:05:00) 1.3546 1.35530 1.35460 1.35495
## (01/02/05 17:10:00) 1.3553 1.35560 1.35490 1.35525
## (01/02/05 17:15:00) 1.3556 1.35565 1.35515 1.35530
## (01/02/05 17:25:00) 1.3550 1.35560 1.35500 1.35550
## (01/02/05 17:30:00) 1.3556 1.35640 1.35535 1.35630

Example 5

Input class: Text file/connection (space-separated with non-matching header).

Input index: factors with labels indicating dates (column 6) and unneeded weekdays (column 5) and times (column 7).

Output class: Multivariate zoo series.

Output index: Date.

Strategy: First, skip the header line, remove unneeded columns by setting colClasses to "NULL", and set suitable col.names. Second, convert the date column to a Date index using format. Finally, aggregate over duplicate dates, keeping only the last observation.

Lines <-
"  views  number  timestamp day            time
1  views  910401 1246192687 Sun 6/28/2009 12:38
2  views  921537 1246278917 Mon 6/29/2009 12:35
3  views  934280 1246365403 Tue 6/30/2009 12:36
4  views  986463 1246888699 Mon  7/6/2009 13:58
5  views  995002 1246970243 Tue  7/7/2009 12:37
6  views 1005211 1247079398 Wed  7/8/2009 18:56
7  views 1011144 1247135553 Thu  7/9/2009 10:32
8  views 1026765 1247308591 Sat 7/11/2009 10:36
9  views 1036856 1247436951 Sun 7/12/2009 22:15
10 views 1040909 1247481564 Mon 7/13/2009 10:39
11 views 1057337 1247568387 Tue 7/14/2009 10:46
12 views 1066999 1247665787 Wed 7/15/2009 13:49
13 views 1077726 1247778752 Thu 7/16/2009 21:12
14 views 1083059 1247845413 Fri 7/17/2009 15:43
15 views 1083059 1247845824 Fri 7/17/2009 18:45
16 views 1089529 1247914194 Sat 7/18/2009 10:49
"
cl <- c("NULL", "numeric", "character")[c(1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 3, 1)]
cn <- c(NA, NA, "views", "number", NA, NA, NA)
z <- read.zoo(text = Lines, skip = 1, col.names = cn, colClasses = cl,
  index = 3, format = "%m/%d/%Y",
  aggregate = function(x) tail(x, 1))
z
##              views     number
## 2009-06-28  910401 1246192687
## 2009-06-29  921537 1246278917
## 2009-06-30  934280 1246365403
## 2009-07-06  986463 1246888699
## 2009-07-07  995002 1246970243
## 2009-07-08 1005211 1247079398
## 2009-07-09 1011144 1247135553
## 2009-07-11 1026765 1247308591
## 2009-07-12 1036856 1247436951
## 2009-07-13 1040909 1247481564
## 2009-07-14 1057337 1247568387
## 2009-07-15 1066999 1247665787
## 2009-07-16 1077726 1247778752
## 2009-07-17 1083059 1247845824
## 2009-07-18 1089529 1247914194

Extract all Thursdays and Fridays.

(z45 <- z[format(time(z), "%w") %in% 4:5,])
##              views     number
## 2009-07-09 1011144 1247135553
## 2009-07-16 1077726 1247778752
## 2009-07-17 1083059 1247845824

Keep last entry in each week.

z45[!duplicated(format(time(z45), "%U"), fromLast = TRUE), ]
##              views     number
## 2009-07-09 1011144 1247135553
## 2009-07-17 1083059 1247845824

Alternative approach: Above approach labels each point as it was originally labeled, i.e., if Thursday is used it gets the date of that Thursday. Another approach is to always label the resulting point as Friday and also use the last available value even if its not Thursday.

Create daily grid and fill in so Friday is filled in with prior value if Friday is NA.

g <- seq(start(z), end(z), by = "day")
z.filled <- na.locf(z, xout = g)

Extract Fridays, including those filled in from previous day.

z.filled[format(time(z.filled), "%w") == "5", ]
##              views     number
## 2009-07-03  934280 1246365403
## 2009-07-10 1011144 1247135553
## 2009-07-17 1083059 1247845824

Example 6

Input class: Text file/connection (comma-separated with header).

Input index: factors with labels indicating dates (column 1) and times (column 2).

Output class: Multivariate zoo series.

Output index: chron (from chron) or POSIXct.

Strategy: Three versions, all using vector index = 1:2.

Lines <- "
Date,Time,Open,High,Low,Close,Up,Down
05.02.2001,00:30,421.20,421.20,421.20,421.20,11,0
05.02.2001,01:30,421.20,421.40,421.20,421.40,7,0
05.02.2001,02:00,421.30,421.30,421.30,421.30,0,5"

With custom FUN using chron() after appending seconds.

f <- function(d, t) chron(d, paste(t, "00", sep = ":"),
  format = c("m.d.y", "h:m:s"))
z <- read.zoo(text = Lines, sep = ",", header = TRUE,
  index = 1:2, FUN  = f)
z
##                      Open  High   Low Close Up Down
## (05.02.01 00:30:00) 421.2 421.2 421.2 421.2 11    0
## (05.02.01 01:30:00) 421.2 421.4 421.2 421.4  7    0
## (05.02.01 02:00:00) 421.3 421.3 421.3 421.3  0    5

With custom FUN using as.chron() with suitable format.

f2 <- function(d, t) as.chron(paste(d, t), format = "%d.%m.%Y %H:%M")
z2 <- read.zoo(text = Lines, sep = ",", header = TRUE, 
  index = 1:2, FUN  = f2)
z2
##                      Open  High   Low Close Up Down
## (02/05/01 00:30:00) 421.2 421.2 421.2 421.2 11    0
## (02/05/01 01:30:00) 421.2 421.4 421.2 421.4  7    0
## (02/05/01 02:00:00) 421.3 421.3 421.3 421.3  0    5

Without FUN, hence the index columns are pasted together and then passt do as.POSIXct() because tz and format are specified.

z3 <- read.zoo(text = Lines, sep = ",", header = TRUE, 
  index = 1:2, tz = "", format = "%d.%m.%Y %H:%M")
z3
##                      Open  High   Low Close Up Down
## 2001-02-05 00:30:00 421.2 421.2 421.2 421.2 11    0
## 2001-02-05 01:30:00 421.2 421.4 421.2 421.4  7    0
## 2001-02-05 02:00:00 421.3 421.3 421.3 421.3  0    5

Example 7

Input class: Text file/connection (space-separated with header).

Input index: factors with labels indicating dates (column 1) and times (column 2).

Output class: Multivariate zoo series.

Output index: POSIXct.

Strategy: Due to standard date/time formats, only index = 1:2 and tz = "" need to be specified to produce POSIXct index.

Lines <- "Date Time V2   V3   V4   V5
2010-10-15 13:43:54 73.8 73.8 73.8 73.8
2010-10-15 13:44:15 73.8 73.8 73.8 73.8
2010-10-15 13:45:51 73.8 73.8 73.8 73.8
2010-10-15 13:46:21 73.8 73.8 73.8 73.8
2010-10-15 13:47:27 73.8 73.8 73.8 73.8
2010-10-15 13:47:54 73.8 73.8 73.8 73.8
2010-10-15 13:49:51 73.7 73.7 73.7 73.7
"
z <- read.zoo(text = Lines, header = TRUE, index = 1:2, tz = "")
z
##                       V2   V3   V4   V5
## 2010-10-15 13:43:54 73.8 73.8 73.8 73.8
## 2010-10-15 13:44:15 73.8 73.8 73.8 73.8
## 2010-10-15 13:45:51 73.8 73.8 73.8 73.8
## 2010-10-15 13:46:21 73.8 73.8 73.8 73.8
## 2010-10-15 13:47:27 73.8 73.8 73.8 73.8
## 2010-10-15 13:47:54 73.8 73.8 73.8 73.8
## 2010-10-15 13:49:51 73.7 73.7 73.7 73.7

Example 8

Input class: Text file/connection (space-separated without header).

Input index: factor with labels indicating dates.

Output class: Multivariate zoo series, with separate columns depending on column 2.

Output index: Date.

Strategy: Non-standard na.strings format needs to be specified, series is split based on second column, and date format (in column 1, default) needs to be specified.

Lines <- "
13/10/2010      A       23
13/10/2010      B       12
13/10/2010      C       124
14/10/2010      A       43
14/10/2010      B       54
14/10/2010      C       65
15/10/2010      A       43
15/10/2010      B       N.A.
15/10/2010      C       65
"
z <- read.zoo(text = Lines, na.strings = "N.A.",
  format = "%d/%m/%Y", split = 2)
z
##             A  B   C
## 2010-10-13 23 12 124
## 2010-10-14 43 54  65
## 2010-10-15 43 NA  65

Example 9

Input class: Text file/connection (comma-separated with header).

Input index: factor with labels indicating date/time.

Output class: Univariate zoo series.

Output index: chron (from chron) or POSIXct.

Strategy: Ignore first two columns by setting colClasses to "NULL". Either produce chron index via as.chron() or use all defaults to produce POSIXct by setting tz.

Lines <- '
"","Fish_ID","Date","R2sqrt"
"1",1646,2006-08-18 08:48:59,0
"2",1646,2006-08-18 09:53:20,100
'
z <- read.zoo(text = Lines, header = TRUE, sep = ",",
  colClasses = c("NULL", "NULL", "character", "numeric"),
  FUN = as.chron)
z
## (08/18/06 08:48:59) (08/18/06 09:53:20) 
##                   0                 100
z2 <- read.zoo(text = Lines, header = TRUE, sep = ",",
  colClasses = c("NULL", "NULL", "character", "numeric"),
  tz = "")
z2
## 2006-08-18 08:48:59 2006-08-18 09:53:20 
##                   0                 100

Example 10

Input class: Text file/connection (space-separated with non-matching header).

Input index: factor with labels indicating date (column 3) and time (column 4).

Output class: Multivariate zoo series.

Output index: chron (from chron) or POSIXct.

Strategy: skip non-matching header and extract date/time from two columns index = 3:4. Either using sequence of two functions FUN and FUN2 or employ defaults yielding POSIXct.

Lines <-
" iteration         Datetime    VIC1    NSW1     SA1    QLD1
1         1 2011-01-01 00:30 5482.09 7670.81 2316.22 5465.13
2         1 2011-01-01 01:00 5178.33 7474.04 2130.30 5218.61
3         1 2011-01-01 01:30 4975.51 7163.73 2042.39 5058.19
4         1 2011-01-01 02:00 5295.36 6850.14 1940.19 4897.96
5         1 2011-01-01 02:30 5042.64 6587.94 1836.19 4749.05
6         1 2011-01-01 03:00 4799.89 6388.51 1786.32 4672.92
"
z <- read.zoo(text = Lines, skip = 1, index = 3:4,
  FUN = paste, FUN2 = as.chron)
z
##                     V1 V2      V5      V6      V7      V8
## (01/01/11 00:30:00)  1  1 5482.09 7670.81 2316.22 5465.13
## (01/01/11 01:00:00)  2  1 5178.33 7474.04 2130.30 5218.61
## (01/01/11 01:30:00)  3  1 4975.51 7163.73 2042.39 5058.19
## (01/01/11 02:00:00)  4  1 5295.36 6850.14 1940.19 4897.96
## (01/01/11 02:30:00)  5  1 5042.64 6587.94 1836.19 4749.05
## (01/01/11 03:00:00)  6  1 4799.89 6388.51 1786.32 4672.92
z2 <- read.zoo(text = Lines, skip = 1, index = 3:4, tz = "")
z2
##                     V1 V2      V5      V6      V7      V8
## 2011-01-01 00:30:00  1  1 5482.09 7670.81 2316.22 5465.13
## 2011-01-01 01:00:00  2  1 5178.33 7474.04 2130.30 5218.61
## 2011-01-01 01:30:00  3  1 4975.51 7163.73 2042.39 5058.19
## 2011-01-01 02:00:00  4  1 5295.36 6850.14 1940.19 4897.96
## 2011-01-01 02:30:00  5  1 5042.64 6587.94 1836.19 4749.05
## 2011-01-01 03:00:00  6  1 4799.89 6388.51 1786.32 4672.92

Example 11

Input class: data.frame.

Input index: Date.

Output class: Multivariate zoo series.

Output index: Date.

Strategy: Given a data.frame only keep last row in each month. Use read.zoo() to convert to zoo and then na.locf() and duplicated().

DF <- structure(list(
  Date = structure(c(14609, 14638, 14640, 14666, 14668, 14699,
    14729, 14757, 14759, 14760), class = "Date"),
  A = c(4.9, 5.1, 5, 4.8, 4.7, 5.3, 5.2, 5.4, NA, 4.6),
  B = c(18.4, 17.7, NA, NA, 18.3, 19.4, 19.7, NA, NA, 18.1),
  C = c(32.6, NA, 32.8, NA, 33.7, 32.4, 33.6, NA, 34.5, NA),
  D = c(77, NA, 78.7, NA, 79, 77.8, 79, 81.7, NA, NA)),
  names = c("Date", "A", "B", "C", "D"), row.names = c(NA, -10L),
  class = "data.frame")
DF
##          Date   A    B    C    D
## 1  2009-12-31 4.9 18.4 32.6 77.0
## 2  2010-01-29 5.1 17.7   NA   NA
## 3  2010-01-31 5.0   NA 32.8 78.7
## 4  2010-02-26 4.8   NA   NA   NA
## 5  2010-02-28 4.7 18.3 33.7 79.0
## 6  2010-03-31 5.3 19.4 32.4 77.8
## 7  2010-04-30 5.2 19.7 33.6 79.0
## 8  2010-05-28 5.4   NA   NA 81.7
## 9  2010-05-30  NA   NA 34.5   NA
## 10 2010-05-31 4.6 18.1   NA   NA
z <- read.zoo(DF)
na.locf(z)[!duplicated(as.yearmon(time(z)), fromLast = TRUE)]
##              A    B    C    D
## 2009-12-31 4.9 18.4 32.6 77.0
## 2010-01-31 5.0 17.7 32.8 78.7
## 2010-02-28 4.7 18.3 33.7 79.0
## 2010-03-31 5.3 19.4 32.4 77.8
## 2010-04-30 5.2 19.7 33.6 79.0
## 2010-05-31 4.6 18.1 34.5 81.7

Example 12

Input class: Text file/connection (space-separated without header).

Input index: factor with labels indicating dates.

Output class: Univariate zoo series.

Output index: Date.

Strategy: Only keep last point in case of duplicate dates.

Lines <- "
2009-10-07      0.009378
2009-10-19      0.014790
2009-10-23      -0.005946
2009-10-23      0.009096
2009-11-08      0.004189
2009-11-10      -0.004592
2009-11-17      0.009397
2009-11-24      0.003411
2009-12-02      0.003300
2010-01-15      0.010873
2010-01-20      0.010712
2010-01-20      0.022237
"
z <- read.zoo(text = Lines, aggregate = function(x) tail(x, 1))
z
## 2009-10-07 2009-10-19 2009-10-23 2009-11-08 2009-11-10 2009-11-17 2009-11-24 
##   0.009378   0.014790   0.009096   0.004189  -0.004592   0.009397   0.003411 
## 2009-12-02 2010-01-15 2010-01-20 
##   0.003300   0.010873   0.022237

Example 13

Input class: Text file/connection (comma-separated with header).

Input index: factor with labels indicating date/time.

Output class: Multivariate zoo series.

Output index: POSIXct or chron (from chron).

Strategy: Dates and times are in standard format, hence the default POSIXct can be produced by setting tz or, alternatively, chron can be produced by setting as.chron() as FUN.

Lines <- "
timestamp,time-step-index,value
2009-11-23 15:58:21,23301,800
2009-11-23 15:58:29,23309,950
"
z <- read.zoo(text = Lines, header = TRUE, sep = ",", tz = "")
z
##                     time.step.index value
## 2009-11-23 15:58:21           23301   800
## 2009-11-23 15:58:29           23309   950
z2 <- read.zoo(text = Lines, header = TRUE, sep = ",", FUN = as.chron)
z2
##                     time.step.index value
## (11/23/09 15:58:21)           23301   800
## (11/23/09 15:58:29)           23309   950

Example 14

Input class: Text file/connection (space-separated with header).

Input index: factors with labels indicating dates (column 1) times (column 2).

Output class: Univariate zoo series.

Output index: chron (from chron).

Strategy: Indicate vector index = 1:2 and use chron() (which takes two separate arguments for dates and times) to produce chron index.

Lines <- "
Date Time Value
01/23/2000 10:12:15 12.12
01/24/2000 11:10:00 15.00
"
z <- read.zoo(text = Lines, header = TRUE, index = 1:2, FUN = chron)
z
## (01/23/00 10:12:15) (01/24/00 11:10:00) 
##               12.12               15.00

Example 15

Input class: Text file/connection (space-separated with header).

Input index: numeric year with quarters represented by separate columns.

Output class: Univariate zoo series.

Output index: yearqtr.

Strategy: First, create a multivariate annual time series using the year index. Then, create a regular univariate quarterly series by collapsing the annual series to a vector and adding a new yearqtr index from scratch.

Lines <- "
Year   Qtr1  Qtr2  Qtr3  Qtr4   
1992    566   443   329   341   
1993    344   212   133   112   
1994    252   252   199   207
"
za <- read.zoo(text = Lines, header = TRUE)
za
##      Qtr1 Qtr2 Qtr3 Qtr4
## 1992  566  443  329  341
## 1993  344  212  133  112
## 1994  252  252  199  207
zq <- zooreg(as.vector(t(za)), start = yearqtr(start(za)), freq = 4)
zq
## 1992 Q1 1992 Q2 1992 Q3 1992 Q4 1993 Q1 1993 Q2 1993 Q3 1993 Q4 1994 Q1 1994 Q2 
##     566     443     329     341     344     212     133     112     252     252 
## 1994 Q3 1994 Q4 
##     199     207

Further comments

Multiple files can be read and subsequently merged.

filenames <- dir(pattern = "csv$") 
z <- read.zoo(filenames, header = TRUE, sep = ",", fixed = FALSE)