jolla | Python Web Framework | REST library

# this is a nice library for R
library(tidyverse)

# name your variables
# (you can use these as arguments to a function or something)
start = place$name[7]
end = place$name[8]

# wrap your computation into a function which takes
# a row of a data frame as input    
compute_route_time = function(row) {
  # get a vector of stops that you can loop through
  stops = unlist(row)

  # distance from start to first stop
  time = mapdist(from = start, to = stops[1])$seconds
  # iterate through the rest of the route
  n_stops = length(stops)
  for (i in 1:(n_stops-1)) {
    time = time + mapdist(from = stops[i], to = stops[i+1])$seconds
  }
  # finish rout
  time = time + mapdist(from = stops[n_stops], to = end)$seconds

  # collect row as a data frame to preserve old columns
  row = as.data.frame(row)
  # add time column
  row$time = time
  return(row)
}

route1 %>%
  dplyr::rowwise() %>%
  dplyr::do(compute_route_time(.))

cities = r"new york|dallas|..."

def last_match(s):
    found = re.findall(cities, s)
    return found[-1] if found else ""

df['string'].apply(last_match)
#0    rochester
#1      houston
#2    san diego
#3