pivot_longer names_ptypes not working as described

[ajacoby]

https://dcl-wrangle.stanford.edu/pivot_advanced.html has the example:

example_eagle_nests %>% 
  pivot_longer(
    cols = c(`2007`, `2009`), 
    names_to = "year", 
    names_ptypes = list(year = integer()),
    values_to = "num_nests"
  )

However, when I run this example I get the error: Error: Can't convert <character> to <integer>.

Searching on this error leads to the page https://www.reddit.com/r/Rlanguage/comments/gu4ygj/tidyverse_nams_ptypes_argument_in_the_pivot/ which suggests the solution of using the names_transform argument instead. This worked for me, replacing names_ptypes = list(year = integer()) with names_transform = list(year = as.integer).

I'm new to R and wondering if it has to do with the version of R that I'm using or what. I looked in the Welcome and Basics and didn't see a specification of which version of R (or tidyr) the text applies to. Perhaps the library has been updated since the text was written? I believe I'm using version 1.1.2 of tidyr and R 4.0.3.

Thanks for sharing your excellent materials freely online!

[behrman]

Yes, you are right. An update to tidyr broke the old code, and the new code should be:

example_eagle_nests %>% 
  pivot_longer(
    cols = c(`2007`, `2009`), 
    names_to = "year", 
    names_transform = list(year = as.integer),
    values_to = "num_nests"
  )

We will be updating all of our books in upcoming weeks to the most recent versions of the Tidyverse packages, and we will include these changes.

Thanks for pointing this out!

[behrman]

Fixed. Thanks!