First PX-file

How to create a PX-file from a data set

All workflows in pxmake, starts the same way: by using the px() to create a px object. Here we are using the built in dataset population_gl.

library(pxmake)

population_gl |>
  head(10) |>
  print()
#> # A tibble: 10 × 4
#>    gender age   year      n
#>    <fct>  <chr> <chr> <dbl>
#>  1 male   0-6   2004   3237
#>  2 male   0-6   2014   2950
#>  3 male   0-6   2024   2769
#>  4 male   7-16  2004   5085
#>  5 male   7-16  2014   4040
#>  6 male   7-16  2024   3865
#>  7 male   17-24 2004   3191
#>  8 male   17-24 2014   3614
#>  9 male   17-24 2024   2940
#> 10 male   25-64 2004  17328

To create the px object, simply pass the data set to the px() function.

x <- px(population_gl)

x is now a px object. The word object just means that the PX-file is stored in a specific format that all functions in the pxmake package uses.

Use px_save() to save the px object as a PX-file.

px_save(x, "population_gl.px")

Since we provided no metadata, px() added a minimal set of metadata, which is necessary for creating a valid PX-file.

The resulting PX-file can be seen below.

CHARSET="ANSI";
DECIMALS=0;
MATRIX="matrix";
SUBJECT-CODE="subject-code";
SUBJECT-AREA="subject-area";
TITLE="";
CONTENTS="contents";
STUB="gender","age";
HEADING="year";
VALUES("gender")="female","male";
VALUES("age")="0-6","17-24","25-64","65+","7-16";
VALUES("year")="2004","2014","2024";
UNITS="units";
CODES("gender")="female","male";
CODES("age")="0-6","17-24","25-64","65+","7-16";
CODES("year")="2004","2014","2024";
VARIABLECODE("gender")="gender";
VARIABLECODE("age")="age";
VARIABLECODE("year")="year";
VARIABLECODE("n")="n";
DATA=
3109 2644 2668
3003 3528 2862
13744 14397 15098
1630 2004 2616
5018 3979 3534
3237 2950 2769
3191 3614 2940
17328 16888 17231
1481 2238 3116
5085 4040 3865
;

How to create a PX-file from a PX-file

If you already have a PX-file, that you want to manipulate using pxmake, simple pass the path of the file, to the px() function.

x2 <- px("population_gl.px")

Just as with the dataset, x2 is now a px object and can be saved or modified using the other functions in pxmake.

Modifying a px object

The real fun starts when you start modifying the px object, using one of pxmake many built in functions.

In general, each px keyword has a corresponding function in pxmake. For example, to change the title of the PX-file, you can use the px_title() function.

x3 <- px_title(x, "Population in Greenland")

The px_title() function returns a new px object, with the title changed. The original px object is not modified.

x3 |>
  px_codepage("UTF-8") |> # Change file encoding  
  px_matrix("pop") |>
  px_contact("Johan Ejstrud") |>
  px_subject_code("GL") |>
  px_subject_area("Greenland") |>
  px_timeval("year") |>
  px_contents("Population in Greenland") |>
  px_units("People") |>
  px_note("See information about data: ?population_gl") |>
  px_last_updated(format(Sys.time(), "%Y%m%d %H:%M")) |>
  px_stub(c("age", "gender")) |> # Change order of STUB variables
  px_save("population_gl_modified.px")

The resulting PX-file can be seen below.

CHARSET="ANSI";
CODEPAGE="UTF-8";
DECIMALS=0;
MATRIX="pop";
SUBJECT-CODE="GL";
SUBJECT-AREA="Greenland";
TITLE="Population in Greenland";
CONTENTS="Population in Greenland";
STUB="age","gender";
HEADING="year";
VALUES("age")="0-6","17-24","25-64","65+","7-16";
VALUES("gender")="female","male";
VALUES("year")="2004","2014","2024";
UNITS="People";
TIMEVAL("year")=TLIST(A1),"2004","2014","2024";
CODES("age")="0-6","17-24","25-64","65+","7-16";
CODES("gender")="female","male";
CODES("year")="2004","2014","2024";
VARIABLECODE("age")="age";
VARIABLECODE("gender")="gender";
VARIABLECODE("year")="year";
VARIABLECODE("n")="n";
LAST-UPDATED="20250530 15:55";
CONTACT="Johan Ejstrud";
NOTE="See information about data: ?population_gl";
DATA=
3109 2644 2668
3237 2950 2769
3003 3528 2862
3191 3614 2940
13744 14397 15098
17328 16888 17231
1630 2004 2616
1481 2238 3116
5018 3979 3534
5085 4040 3865
;

Advanced use

See the other vignettes for more advanced use cases: - vignette("languages") - vignette("micro-files")