Cycle time objects

Source: R/cycle_time.R

[Maturing]

cycle_time() cycles time span objects in a predetermined cycle length, adapting linear time objects into a circular time frame.

cycle_time(time, cycle, reverse = TRUE)

# S3 method for numeric
cycle_time(time, cycle, reverse = TRUE)

# S3 method for Duration
cycle_time(time, cycle, reverse = TRUE)

# S3 method for difftime
cycle_time(time, cycle, reverse = TRUE)

# S3 method for hms
cycle_time(time, cycle, reverse = TRUE)

Arguments

time

An object belonging to one of the following classes: numeric, Duration, difftime, or hms.

cycle

A numeric or Duration object of length 1, equal or greater than 0, indicating the cycle length in seconds. See the Details section to learn more.

reverse

(optional) a logical value indicating if the function must use a reverse cycle for negative values in time. See the Details section to learn more (default: TRUE).

Value

The same type of object of time cycled with the cycle parameter.

Details

Linear versus circular time

Time can have different "shapes".

If the objective is to measure the duration (time span) of an event, time is usually measured considering a linear frame, with a fixed point of origin. In this context, the time value distance itself to infinity in relation to the origin.

                                   B
                             |----------|
                                        A
                             |---------------------|
 - inf                                                inf +
<----------------------------|----------|----------|------->
 s                           0          5          10     s
                           origin

A + B = 10 + 5 = 15s

But that's not the only possible "shape" of time, as it can also be measured in other contexts.

In a "time of day" context, the time will be linked to the rotation of the earth, "resetting" when a new rotation cycle starts. That brings a different kind of shape to time: a circular shape. With this shape the time value encounters the origin at the beginning and end of each cycle.

               - <--- h ---> +
                    origin
                . . . 0 . . .
             .                 .
            .                   .
           .                     .
          .                       .
         .                         .
         18                        6
         .                         .
          .                       .
           .                     .
            .                   .
             .                 .
                . . . 12 . . .

18 + 6 = 0h

If we transpose this circular time frame to a linear one, it would look like this:

<----|---------------|---------------|---------------|----->
    0h              12h              0h             12h
  origin                           origin

Note that now the origin is not fix, but cyclical.

cycle_time() operates by converting linear time objects using a circular approach relative to the cycle length (e.g, cycle = 86400 (1 day)).

Fractional time

cycle_time() uses the %% operator to cycle values. Hence, it can be subject to catastrophic loss of accuracy if time is fractional and much larger than cycle. A warning is given if this is detected.

%% is a builtin R function that operates like this:

function(a, b) {
    a - floor(a / b) * b
}

Negative time cycling

If time have a negative value and reverse == FALSE, cycle_time() will perform the cycle considering the absolute value of time and return the result with a negative signal.

However, If time have a negative value and reverse == TRUE (default), cycle_time() will perform the cycle in reverse, relative to its origin.

Example: If you have a -30h time span in a reversed cycle of 24h, the result will be 18h. By removing the full cycles of -30h you will get -6h (-30 + 24), and -6h relative to the origin will be 18h.

               - <--- h ---> +
                    origin
                . . . 0 . . .
              .                 .
            .                   .
           .                     .
          .                       .
         .                         .
    (-6) 18                        6 (-18)
         .                         .
          .                       .
           .                     .
            .                   .
             .                 .
                . . . 12 . . .
                    (-12)

Period objects

Period objects are a special type of object developed by the lubridate team that represents "human units", ignoring possible timeline irregularities. That is to say that 1 day as Period can have different time spans, when looking to a timeline after a irregularity event.

Since the time span of a Period object can fluctuate, cycle_time() don't accept this kind of object. You can transform it to a Duration object and still use the function, but beware that this can produce errors.

Learn more about Period objects in the Dates and times chapter of Wickham & Grolemund book (n.d.).

References

Wickham, H., & Grolemund, G. (n.d.). R for data science. (n.p.). https://r4ds.had.co.nz

See also

Other circular time functions: assign_date(), shorter_int()

Examples

## Scalar example

time <- lubridate::dhours(25)
cycle <- lubridate::ddays(1)
cycle_time(time, cycle)
#> [1] "3600s (~1 hours)"
#> [1] "3600s (~1 hours)" # Expected

time <- lubridate::dhours(-25)
cycle <- lubridate::ddays(1)
reverse <- FALSE
cycle_time(time, cycle, reverse)
#> [1] "-3600s (~-1 hours)"
#> [1] "-3600s (~-1 hours)" # Expected

time <- lubridate::dhours(-25)
cycle <- lubridate::ddays(1)
reverse <- TRUE
cycle_time(time, cycle, reverse)
#> [1] "82800s (~23 hours)"
#> [1] "82800s (~23 hours)" # Expected

## Vector example

time <- c(lubridate::dmonths(24), lubridate::dmonths(13))
cycle <- lubridate::dyears(1)
cycle_time(time, cycle)
#> [1] "0s"                     "2629800s (~4.35 weeks)"
#> [1] "0s"                     "2629800s (~4.35 weeks)" # Expected

time <- c(lubridate::dmonths(24), lubridate::dmonths(-13))
cycle <- lubridate::dyears(1)
reverse <- FALSE
cycle_time(time, cycle, reverse)
#> [1] "0s"                       "-2629800s (~-4.35 weeks)"
#> [1] "0s"                       "-2629800s (~-4.35 weeks)" # Expected

time <- c(lubridate::dmonths(24), lubridate::dmonths(-13))
cycle <- lubridate::dyears(1)
reverse <- TRUE
cycle_time(time, cycle, reverse)
#> [1] "0s"                       "28927800s (~47.83 weeks)"
#> [1] "0s"                       "28927800s (~47.83 weeks)" # Expected