We can use lapply() or sapply() interchangeable to slice a data frame. We create a function, below_average(), that takes a vector of numerical values and returns a vector that only contains the values that are strictly above the average. We compare both results with the identical() function.
below_ave <- function(x) {
ave <- mean(x)
return(x[x > ave])
}
dt_s<- sapply(dt, below_ave)
dt_l<- lapply(dt, below_ave)
identical(dt_s, dt_l)
Output:
## [1] TRUE