This help topic is for R version 2.9.0. For the current version of R, try https://stat.ethz.ch/R-manual/R-patched/library/stats/html/ave.html
ave {stats}R Documentation

Group Averages Over Level Combinations of Factors

Description

Subsets of x[] are averaged, where each subset consist of those observations with the same factor levels.

Usage

ave(x, ..., FUN = mean)

Arguments

x

A numeric.

...

Grouping variables, typically factors, all of the same length as x.

FUN

Function to apply for each factor level combination.

Value

A numeric vector, say y of length length(x). If ... is g1,g2, e.g., y[i] is equal to FUN(x[j], for all j with g1[j] == g1[i] and g2[j] == g2[i]).

See Also

mean, median.

Examples

require(graphics)

ave(1:3)# no grouping -> grand mean

attach(warpbreaks)
ave(breaks, wool)
ave(breaks, tension)
ave(breaks, tension, FUN = function(x)mean(x, trim=.1))
plot(breaks, main =
     "ave( Warpbreaks )  for   wool  x  tension  combinations")
lines(ave(breaks, wool, tension            ), type='s', col = "blue")
lines(ave(breaks, wool, tension, FUN=median), type='s', col = "green")
legend(40,70, c("mean","median"), lty=1,col=c("blue","green"), bg="gray90")
detach()

[Package stats version 2.9.0 ]