Split and create a new dataframes for each variable in a specific column

Question

I'm not exactly sure how to make progress on this question. I'm using here this mtcars dataset:

structure(list(index = 1:32, car = c("Mazda RX4", "Mazda RX4 Wag", 
"Datsun 710", "Hornet 4 Drive", "Hornet Sportabout", "Valiant", 
"Duster 360", "Merc 240D", "Merc 230", "Merc 280", "Merc 280C", 
"Merc 450SE", "Merc 450SL", "Merc 450SLC", "Cadillac Fleetwood", 
"Lincoln Continental", "Chrysler Imperial", "Fiat 128", "Honda Civic", 
"Toyota Corolla", "Toyota Corona", "Dodge Challenger", "AMC Javelin", 
"Camaro Z28", "Pontiac Firebird", "Fiat X1-9", "Porsche 914-2", 
"Lotus Europa", "Ford Pantera L", "Ferrari Dino", "Maserati Bora", 
"Volvo 142E"), mpg = c(21, 21, 22.8, 21.4, 18.7, 18.1, 14.3, 
24.4, 22.8, 19.2, 17.8, 16.4, 17.3, 15.2, 10.4, 10.4, 14.7, 32.4, 
30.4, 33.9, 21.5, 15.5, 15.2, 13.3, 19.2, 27.3, 26, 30.4, 15.8, 
19.7, 15, 21.4), cyl = c(6, 6, 4, 6, 8, 6, 8, 4, 4, 6, 6, 8, 
8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 8, 8, 8, 8, 4, 4, 4, 8, 6, 8, 4), 
    disp = c(160, 160, 108, 258, 360, 225, 360, 146.7, 140.8, 
    167.6, 167.6, 275.8, 275.8, 275.8, 472, 460, 440, 78.7, 75.7, 
    71.1, 120.1, 318, 304, 350, 400, 79, 120.3, 95.1, 351, 145, 
    301, 121), hp = c(110, 110, 93, 110, 175, 105, 245, 62, 95, 
    123, 123, 180, 180, 180, 205, 215, 230, 66, 52, 65, 97, 150, 
    150, 245, 175, 66, 91, 113, 264, 175, 335, 109), drat = c(3.9, 
    3.9, 3.85, 3.08, 3.15, 2.76, 3.21, 3.69, 3.92, 3.92, 3.92, 
    3.07, 3.07, 3.07, 2.93, 3, 3.23, 4.08, 4.93, 4.22, 3.7, 2.76, 
    3.15, 3.73, 3.08, 4.08, 4.43, 3.77, 4.22, 3.62, 3.54, 4.11
    ), wt = c(2.62, 2.875, 2.32, 3.215, 3.44, 3.46, 3.57, 3.19, 
    3.15, 3.44, 3.44, 4.07, 3.73, 3.78, 5.25, 5.424, 5.345, 2.2, 
    1.615, 1.835, 2.465, 3.52, 3.435, 3.84, 3.845, 1.935, 2.14, 
    1.513, 3.17, 2.77, 3.57, 2.78), qsec = c(16.46, 17.02, 18.61, 
    19.44, 17.02, 20.22, 15.84, 20, 22.9, 18.3, 18.9, 17.4, 17.6, 
    18, 17.98, 17.82, 17.42, 19.47, 18.52, 19.9, 20.01, 16.87, 
    17.3, 15.41, 17.05, 18.9, 16.7, 16.9, 14.5, 15.5, 14.6, 18.6
    ), vs = c(0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 
    0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1), am = c(1, 
    1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 
    0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1), gear = c(4, 4, 4, 3, 
    3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 
    3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4), carb = c(4, 4, 1, 1, 2, 1, 4, 
    2, 2, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 4, 2, 1, 
    2, 2, 4, 6, 8, 2)), row.names = c(NA, -32L), class = c("tbl_df", 
"tbl", "data.frame"))

Here is the pseudo-code that I have written.

for (i in 1:length(car)) {
  mtcars %>%
  filter(car == car[i]) %>%
  mtcars_i <- mtcars
}

The idea here is that I would like create 32 different datasets with the name of each car in the label for this particular dataset.

mtcars_mazda_rx4
mtcars_hornet_sportabout
etc.

Here mtcars_mazda_rx4 would be a dataframe with all the same variables but only one observation, where car == "Mazda RX4", i.e. mtcars[car == "Mazda RX4",]

Is there a way to create a for loop that filters the dataframe by a specific variable, and then outputs a new dataframe with that variable name identified in the new df?

Answer 1

Just a different approach using split; I am using dplyr to make the solution more legible;

library(tidyverse)

mtcars %>% 
#  rownames_to_column("car") %>% ## run this line if you are using original mtcars
  split(., .$car) %>% 
  set_names(., nm = paste0("mtcars_", names(.))) %>% 
  list2env(., envir=.GlobalEnv)

Answer 2

We can use assign

for (i in 1:length(car)) {
  tmp <- mtcars %>%
  filter(car == car[i])
  assign(paste0('mtcars_', car[i]), tmp)
}