Aggregate Duplicate Edges

Combines duplicate edges by aggregating their weights using a specified function (sum, mean, max, min, or first).

Usage

aggregate_duplicate_edges(edges, method = "mean", directed = FALSE)

edges: Data frame with from, to, and weight columns.
method: Aggregation method: "sum" (default), "mean", "max", "min", "first", or a custom function that takes a numeric vector and returns a single value.

A deduplicated data frame with the same columns as the input, where each node pair appears only once with its aggregated weight.

sum: Total weight of all duplicate edges. Useful for frequency counts or when edges represent additive quantities (e.g., number of emails).
mean: Average weight. Useful for averaging multiple measurements or when duplicates represent repeated observations.
max: Maximum weight. Useful for finding the strongest connection or most recent value.
min: Minimum weight. Useful for the most conservative estimate or earliest value.
first: Keep first occurrence. Useful for preserving original order or when duplicates are erroneous.

The output edge list uses canonical node ordering (lower index first for undirected networks), ensuring consistent from/to assignment.