Creates indices for time series cross-validation with options for expanding window or sliding window approaches. Supports both single-step and multi-step forecasting, and can handle replicated observations.
make_time_series_cv_index(
time_idx,
train_length = NULL,
test_length = 1,
replicate = time_idx,
gap = 0
)A numeric vector of time indices in ascending order
An integer specifying the fixed length of training sets. If NULL (default), an expanding window approach is used.
An integer specifying the number of observations to include in each test set. Default is 1 (single-step forecasting).
An optional vector of the same length as time_idx, indicating which observations belong to the same replicate group. When provided, ensures that all observations with the same replicate value are either entirely in the training set or entirely in the test set.
An integer specifying the gap between the training set and test set. Default is 0 (no gap, test set starts immediately after training set). For example, gap=1 means skip one time point between training and test (useful for 2-step ahead forecasting).
A list with two components:
A list of numeric vectors, where each vector contains the time indices for training in that fold
A list of numeric vectors, where each vector contains the time indices for testing in that fold
Time series cross-validation requires respecting the temporal order of observations. This function implements two common approaches:
1. Expanding window (when train_length = NULL): The training set grows with each fold, starting with a minimal set and expanding to include all but the test data.
2. Sliding window (when train_length is specified): Uses a fixed-length window that slides through the time series, maintaining the same training size across folds.
The test_length parameter allows for multi-step forecasting evaluation.
When replicate is provided, the function ensures that all observations with the same replicate value are kept together, either all in the training set or all in the test set. This is useful for scenarios where multiple observations at the same time point should be treated as a group.
The gap parameter creates a separation between training and test sets, which is useful for multi-step ahead forecasting validation.
# Expanding window approach with single-step forecasting
cv_expanding <- make_time_series_cv_index(1:10)
# Sliding window approach with window size 3 and single-step forecasting
cv_sliding <- make_time_series_cv_index(1:10, train_length = 3)
# Sliding window with multi-step forecasting (predict 2 steps ahead)
cv_multistep <- make_time_series_cv_index(1:10, train_length = 3, test_length = 2)
# Working with replicates
time_idx <- c(1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3)
replicates <- c(1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3)
cv_with_replicates <- make_time_series_cv_index(time_idx, replicate = replicates)
# 2-step ahead forecasting with a gap
cv_with_gap <- make_time_series_cv_index(1:10, gap = 1)