Proper capitalization of name strings mixed in with company names - regex

Question

I've got a list of owner names in all caps that I'd like to convert to proper capitalization:
owner1
1: DXXXXX JOSEPH V JR
2: MIRNA NXXXXX
3: ADRIAN TXXXX
4: CUTLER PXXXXXXXXX LLC
5: GVM PXXXXXXXXX LLC
6: EARLENA RXXXXXXX
7: NATHANIEL TXXXXX
8: DXXXXXX DONNA
9: LXXXX ELAINE E TR
10: SXXXXXX KIMBERLY
(for reproduction purposes:
owner1<-c("DXXXXX JOSEPH V JR","MIRNA NXXXXX","ADRIAN TXXXX",
"CUTLER PXXXXXXXXX LLC","GVM PXXXXXXXXX LLC",
"EARLENA RXXXXXXX","NATHANIEL TXXXXX","DXXXXXX DONNA",
"LXXXX ELAINE E TR","SXXXXXX KIMBERLY")
)
Desired output:
owner1
1: Dxxxxx Joseph V. Jr
2: Mirna Nxxxxx
3: Adrian Txxxx
4: Cutler Pxxxxxxxxx LLC
5: GVM Pxxxxxxxxx LLC
6: Earlena Rxxxxxxx
7: Nathaniel Txxxxx
8: Dxxxxxx Donna
9: Lxxxx Elaine E. TR
10: Sxxxxxx Kimberly
A big first step is a version of the .simpleCap function mentioned in ?chartr:
.simpleCap <- function(x) {
s <- strsplit(tolower(x), " ")[[1]]
paste(toupper(substring(s, 1, 1)), substring(s, 2),
sep = "", collapse = " ")
}
This is a large chunk of the problem, but fails on 4, 5 and 9. I can supplement this to treat key phrases (LLC, TR, etc.) separately, but this still leaves something like observation 5.
Here's the function I've got so far (sped up wonderfully by #eipi10's solution below, which vectorized the .simpleCap function, allowing the whole function to be applied to vectors):
to.proper<-function(strings){
#vectorized version of .simpleCap;
# I've also built in that I know `strings` is all caps
res<-gsub("\\b([A-Z])([A-Z]+)*","\\U\\1\\L\\2",strings,perl=T)
#In my data, some Irish/Scottish names separated the MC prefix
# Also, re-capitalize following a hyphen
res<-gsub("\\bMc\\s","Mc",gsub("(-.)","\\U\\1",res,perl=T))
for (init in c("[A-Z]","Inc","Assoc","Co",
"Jr","Sr","Tr","Bros")){
#Add a period after common abbreviations
res<-gsub(paste0("\\b(",init,")\\b"),"\\1.",res)
}
for (abbr in c("[B-DF-HJ-NP-TV-XZ][b-df-hj-np-tv-xz]{2,}",
"Pa","Ii","Iii","Iv","Lp","Tj",
"Xiv","Ll","Yml","Us")){
#Re-capitalize any string of >=3 consonants (excluding
# Y for such names as LYNN and WYNN), as well as
# some other common phrases that need upper-casing
res<-gsub(paste0("\\b(",abbr,")\\b"),"\\U\\1",res,perl=T)
}
#Re-capitalize post-Mc letters, e.g. in Mcmahon
gsub("\\bMc([a-z])","Mc\\U\\1",res,perl=T)
}
Any ideas for robust-ish ways to leave potentially unpredicted abbreviations alone in this process (particularly, like those in observation 5 which are uncommon)?

Answer 1

Here's a function using a Regex to convert strings to title case (adapted from #BenBolker's answer to a question I asked on SO a while back).
The function is written so that you can pass an argument called exceptions that deals with special cases like GVM. I'm not sure if this is flexible enough for your needs, since you have to hard-code the exceptions, but I thought I'd post it and see if anyone can suggest improvements.
dat = data.frame(owner1 = c("DXXXXX JOSEPH V JR","MIRNA NXXXXX","ADRIAN TXXXX",
"CUTLER PXXXXXXXXX LLC","GVM PXXXXXXXXX LLC",
"EARLENA RXXXXXXX","NATHANIEL TXXXXX","DXXXXXX DONNA",
"LXXXX ELAINE E TR","SXXXXXX KIMBERLY"))
# Convert a string to title case
tc = function(strings, exceptions="\\b(gvm)\\b") {
# Convert to title case, excluding terminal LLC, TR, etc.
title.case = gsub("\\b([a-zA-Z])([a-zA-Z]+)*( LLC| TR| FBO| LP)?",
"\\U\\1\\L\\2\\U\\3", strings, perl=TRUE)
# Add a period after initials (presumed to be any lone capital letter)
title.case = gsub(" ([A-Z]) ", " \\1\\. ", title.case)
# Deal with exceptions
title.case = gsub(exceptions, "\\U\\1", title.case, perl=TRUE, ignore.case=TRUE)
return(title.case)
}
dat$title.case = tc(dat$owner1)
owner1 title.case
1 DXXXXX JOSEPH V JR Dxxxxx Joseph V. Jr
2 MIRNA NXXXXX Mirna Nxxxxx
3 ADRIAN TXXXX Adrian Txxxx
4 CUTLER PXXXXXXXXX LLC Cutler Pxxxxxxxxx LLC
5 GVM PXXXXXXXXX LLC GVM Pxxxxxxxxx LLC
6 EARLENA RXXXXXXX Earlena Rxxxxxxx
7 NATHANIEL TXXXXX Nathaniel Txxxxx
8 DXXXXXX DONNA Dxxxxxx Donna
9 LXXXX ELAINE E TR Lxxxx Elaine E. TR
10 SXXXXXX KIMBERLY Sxxxxxx Kimberly