看来从 data.table 中选择列[.data.table
结果产生基础向量的副本。我说的是非常简单的列选择,按名称,没有要计算的表达式j
并且没有要子集的行i
。更奇怪的是,data.frame 中的列子集似乎没有创建任何副本。我正在使用 data.table 版本 data.table 1.10.4。下面提供了一个包含详细信息和基准的简单示例。我的问题是:
- 难道我做错了什么?
- 这是一个错误还是这是预期的行为?
- 如果这是有意的,那么按列对 data.table 进行子集化并避免额外复制的最佳方法是什么?
预期的用例涉及大型数据集,因此必须避免额外的副本(特别是因为基础 R 似乎已经支持这一点)。
library(data.table)
set.seed(12345)
cpp_dt <- data.table(a = runif(1e6), b = rnorm(1e6), c = runif(1e6))
cols=c("a","c")
## naive / data.frame style of column selection
## leads to a copy of the column vectors in cols
subset_cols_1=function(dt,cols){
return(dt[,cols,with=F])
}
## alternative syntax, still results in a copy
subset_cols_2=function(dt,cols){
return(dt[,..cols])
}
## work-around that uses data.frame column selection,
## appears to avoid the copy
subset_cols_3=function(dt,cols){
setDF(dt)
subset=dt[,cols]
setDT(subset)
setDT(dt)
return(subset)
}
## another approach that makes a "shallow" copy of the data.table
## then NULLs the not needed columns by reference
## appears to also avoid the copy
subset_cols_4=function(dt,cols){
subset=dt[TRUE]
other_cols=setdiff(names(subset),cols)
set(subset,j=other_cols,value=NULL)
return(subset)
}
subset_1=subset_cols_1(cpp_dt,cols)
subset_2=subset_cols_2(cpp_dt,cols)
subset_3=subset_cols_3(cpp_dt,cols)
subset_4=subset_cols_4(cpp_dt,cols)
现在让我们看看内存分配并与原始数据进行比较。
.Internal(inspect(cpp_dt)) # original data, keep an eye on 1st and 3d vector
# @7fe8ba278800 19 VECSXP g1c7 [OBJ,MARK,NAM(2),ATT] (len=3, tl=1027)
# @10e2ce000 14 REALSXP g1c7 [MARK,NAM(2)] (len=1000000, tl=0) 0.720904,0.875773,0.760982,0.886125,0.456481,...
# @10f1a3000 14 REALSXP g1c7 [MARK,NAM(2)] (len=1000000, tl=0) -0.947317,-0.636669,0.167872,-0.206986,0.411445,...
# @10f945000 14 REALSXP g1c7 [MARK,NAM(2)] (len=1000000, tl=0) 0.717611,0.95416,0.191546,0.48525,0.539878,...
# ATTRIB: [removed]
Using [.data.table
对列进行子集化的方法:
.Internal(inspect(subset_1)) # looks like data.table is making a copy
# @7fe8b9f3b800 19 VECSXP g0c7 [OBJ,NAM(1),ATT] (len=2, tl=1026)
# @114cb0000 14 REALSXP g0c7 [MARK,NAM(2)] (len=1000000, tl=0) 0.720904,0.875773,0.760982,0.886125,0.456481,...
# @1121ca000 14 REALSXP g0c7 [NAM(2)] (len=1000000, tl=0) 0.717611,0.95416,0.191546,0.48525,0.539878,...
# ATTRIB: [removed]
仍在使用的另一个语法版本[.data.table
并仍在制作副本:
.Internal(inspect(subset_2)) # same, still copy
# @7fe8b6402600 19 VECSXP g0c7 [OBJ,NAM(1),ATT] (len=2, tl=1026)
# @115452000 14 REALSXP g0c7 [NAM(2)] (len=1000000, tl=0) 0.720904,0.875773,0.760982,0.886125,0.456481,...
# @1100e7000 14 REALSXP g0c7 [NAM(2)] (len=1000000, tl=0) 0.717611,0.95416,0.191546,0.48525,0.539878,...
# ATTRIB: [removed]
使用一系列setDF
, 其次是[.data.frame
and setDT
。看,向量a
and c
不再复制!看来基本 R 方法更高效/内存占用更小?
.Internal(inspect(subset_3)) # "[.data.frame" is not making a copy!!
# @7fe8b633f400 19 VECSXP g0c7 [OBJ,NAM(2),ATT] (len=2, tl=1026)
# @10e2ce000 14 REALSXP g1c7 [MARK,NAM(2)] (len=1000000, tl=0) 0.720904,0.875773,0.760982,0.886125,0.456481,...
# @10f945000 14 REALSXP g1c7 [MARK,NAM(2)] (len=1000000, tl=0) 0.717611,0.95416,0.191546,0.48525,0.539878,...
# ATTRIB: [removed]
另一种方法是对 data.table 进行浅表复制,然后通过在新 data.table 中引用将所有额外列设为 NULL。同样,没有复制。
.Internal(inspect(subset_4)) # 4th approach seems to also avoid the copy
# @7fe8b924d800 19 VECSXP g0c7 [OBJ,NAM(2),ATT] (len=2, tl=1027)
# @10e2ce000 14 REALSXP g1c7 [MARK,NAM(2)] (len=1000000, tl=0) 0.720904,0.875773,0.760982,0.886125,0.456481,...
# @10f945000 14 REALSXP g1c7 [MARK,NAM(2)] (len=1000000, tl=0) 0.717611,0.95416,0.191546,0.48525,0.539878,...
# ATTRIB: [removed]
现在让我们看看这四种方法的基准。它看起来像“[.data.frame”(subset_cols_3
)是明显的赢家。
microbenchmark({subset_cols_1(cpp_dt,cols)},
{subset_cols_2(cpp_dt,cols)},
{subset_cols_3(cpp_dt,cols)},
{subset_cols_4(cpp_dt,cols)},
times=100)
# Unit: microseconds
# expr min lq mean median uq max neval
# { subset_cols_1(cpp_dt, cols) } 4772.092 5128.7395 8956.7398 7149.447 10189.397 53117.358 100
# { subset_cols_2(cpp_dt, cols) } 4705.383 5107.1690 8977.1816 6680.666 9206.164 53523.191 100
# { subset_cols_3(cpp_dt, cols) } 148.659 177.9595 285.4926 250.620 283.414 4422.968 100
# { subset_cols_4(cpp_dt, cols) } 193.912 241.9010 531.8308 336.467 384.844 20061.864 100