R dataframe error - Replacement has 1 row, data has 0

Question

I am trying to write some code in R for a large process but I keep on getting this error:

Example <- data.frame(Col1 = c(1, 2, 3, 4, 5),
                      COl2 = c("A", "B", "C", "D", "E"))

Example[Example$Col1 > 3,]$Col1 <- 3 #works fine, 2 rows were selected

Example[Example$Col1 < -5,]$Col1 <- 0 #gets an error, 0 rows were selected

Error in `$<-.data.frame`(`*tmp*`, Col1, value = 0) :
    replacement has 1 row, data has 0

I know that what causes the error is that zero rows where selected, and thus the replacement cannot be made. But to my process to work, I wouldn't mind if the line was just skipped.

I know that I can avoid it with an if:

if(sum(Example$Col1 < -5) > 0){
    Example[Example$Col1 < -5,]$Col1 <- 0
}

But I was wondering if there is an easier (or cleaner) way to do it. Any hints?

Answer 1

Write like this instead:

Example$Col1[Example$Col1 > 3] <- 3
Example$Col1[Example$Col1 < -5] <- 0