stats::reorder vs Hmisc::reorder

Question

I am trying to get around the strange overlap of stats::reorder vs Hmisc::reorder.

Without Hmisc loaded I get the result I want, i.e. an unordered factor:

> with(InsectSprays, reorder(spray, count, median))
 [1] A A A A A A A A A A A A B B B B B B B B B B B B C C C C C C C C C C C C D D
[39] D D D D D D D D D D E E E E E E E E E E E E F F F F F F F F F F F F
attr(,"scores")
   A    B    C    D    E    F 
14.0 16.5  1.5  5.0  3.0 15.0 
Levels: C E D A F B

Now after loading Hmisc the result is an ordered factor:

> library(Hmisc)
Loading required package: survival
Loading required package: splines

Attaching package: 'Hmisc'

The following object(s) are masked from 'package:survival':

    untangle.specials

The following object(s) are masked from 'package:base':

    format.pval, round.POSIXt, trunc.POSIXt, units

> with(InsectSprays, reorder(spray, count, median))
 [1] A A A A A A A A A A A A B B B B B B B B B B B B C C C C C C C C C C C C D D
[39] D D D D D D D D D D E E E E E E E E E E E E F F F F F F F F F F F F
Levels: C < E < D < A < F < B

In calling stats::reorder directly, I now for some reason get an ordered factor.

> with(InsectSprays, stats::reorder(spray, count, median))
 [1] A A A A A A A A A A A A B B B B B B B B B B B B C C C C C C C C C C C C D D
[39] D D D D D D D D D D E E E E E E E E E E E E F F F F F F F F F F F F
Levels: C < E < D < A < F < B

Specifying, that I would need an unordered factor results in an error suggesting that stats::reorder is not used?

> with(InsectSprays, stats::reorder(spray, count, median, order = FALSE))
Error in FUN(X[[1L]], ...) : unused argument(s) (order = FALSE)

So the question really is how do I get an unordered factor with Hmisc loaded?

Answer 1

you can do by

with(InsectSprays, stats:::reorder.default(spray, count, median))

note that stats::reorder is a 'dispatcher' so in your example

with(InsectSprays, stats::reorder(spray, count, median))

finally Hmisc::reorder.factor is called instead of stats::reorder.default.