r - How do I replicate values based on previous value -

how replicate 1 value based on previous value?

e.g

my dataset

name <- c("sergio",na,na,na,na,"john", na,na,na,na,na,na) number <-c(1234,na,na,na,na,5678, na,na,na,na,na,na)  mydata <- cbind(as.data.frame(name),as.data.frame(number)) 

new dataset

name     number sergio    1234 sergio    1234 sergio    1234 sergio    1234  john      5678 john      5678  john      5678  john      5678 john      5678  john      5678 .... 

etc

you can use na.locf "zoo" package:

mydata <- data.frame(   name = c("sergio",na,na,na,na,"john", na,na,na,na,na,na),   number = c(1234,na,na,na,na,5678, na,na,na,na,na,na))  library(zoo) na.locf(mydata) #      name number # 1  sergio   1234 # 2  sergio   1234 # 3  sergio   1234 # 4  sergio   1234 # 5  sergio   1234 # 6    john   5678 # 7    john   5678 # 8    john   5678 # 9    john   5678 # 10   john   5678 # 11   john   5678 # 12   john   5678 

---

if prefer not use package, here's might work:

locf <- function(x) {   <- cumsum(!is.na(x))   ave(x, a, fun = function(x) x[1]) }  mydata[] <- lapply(mydata, locf)