Distribute values in a vector

Question

I have a vector with many zeros.

v <- c(3,0,0,5,0,0,0,10,0,0,0,0)

I want to distribute the nonzero numbers forward and replace everything before a nonzero number with the average.

For example (3,0,0) should be replaced by (1,1,1).

(3+0+0)/3=1

v should become

(1,1,1,1.25,1.25,1.25,1.25,2,2,2,2,2)

Is there a function that can do this?

Answer 1

You are looking for the function ave

ave(v, cumsum(v))
[1] 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.25 1.25 1.25 1.25 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00