Step 03 - Standardize conjunctions

People list several roles in one title with no standard punctuation: “CEO AND BOARD PRESIDENT”, “SEC/TREAS”, “BOARD MEMBER; TREASURER”. Other titles use the same words inside a single role: “VP OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION”. standardize_conj() turns every connector that separates two titles into a single &, so that step 04 can split on it, and leaves compound titles whole.

Before and after

before (TitleTxt2)	after (TitleTxt3)
SEC/TREAS	SEC & TREAS
SECRETARY, TREASURER	SECRETARY & TREASURER
BOARD MEMBER; TREASURER	BOARD MEMBER & TREASURER
CHIEF EXEC OFFICER / FOUNDER	CHIEF EXEC OFFICER & FOUNDER
PRESIDENT AND CEO	PRESIDENT & CEO
VP FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION	VP FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION
SVP, MARKETING	SVP OF MARKETING
VP, MARKETING	VP OF MARKETING
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD	CHAIRMAN OF BOARD
DIRECTOR TO	DIRECTOR UNTIL
TRUSTEE, EX-OFFICIO	TRUSTEE EX-OFFICIO
MGR, IT	MGR IT

What it does

standardize_conj()
|
+- standardize_and()        AND -> & when both sides are titles
+- standardize_to()         a trailing TO -> UNTIL (left by a removed date)
+- standardize_of()         AS OF -> SINCE; drop a dangling OF; FOR -> OF
+- standardize_comma()      a comma as separator, as "of", or as filler
+- standardize_slash()      a slash as separator, as "of", or as filler
+- standardize_and()        again, for cases the steps above created
+- standardize_separator()  ";" and "\" -> &

The decision for AND, a comma or a slash is the same: if the words on both sides are recognizable titles, the connector separates two roles and becomes &. If the words after it are a subject (FINANCE, MARKETING), it means “of”. Otherwise it is dropped.

Assets

Asset	Type	Used for	Load it with
likely.titles	word list (package data)	titles that, found on both sides of a connector, make it a separator	data(likely.titles)

data(likely.titles)
length(likely.titles)
#> [1] 50
head(likely.titles, 20)
#>  [1] "PRESIDENT"     "CEO"           "DIRECTOR\\b"   "CHAIR"        
#>  [5] "TRUSTEE\\b"    "TREASURER"     "SECRETARY"     "OFFICER"      
#>  [9] "COUNSEL"       "FOUNDER"       "PUBLISHER"     "EDITOR\\b"    
#> [13] "MEMBER\\b"     "\\bCOO\\b"     "CFO"           "MANAGER"      
#> [17] "\\bCTO\\b"     "ADMINISTRATOR" "\\bCRO\\b"     "CURATOR"

Try it

standardize_and("CEO AND BOARD PRESIDENT")           # separator -> &
#> [1] "CEO & BOARD PRESIDENT"
standardize_and("VP OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION")  # compound  -> unchanged
#> [1] "VP OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION"
standardize_comma("SECRETARY, TREASURER")            # separator
#> [1] "SECRETARY & TREASURER"
standardize_comma("VP, MARKETING")                   # "of"
#> [1] "VP OF MARKETING"
standardize_slash("SECRETARY/TREASURER")             # separator
#> [1] "SECRETARY & TREASURER"
standardize_to("DIRECTOR TO")                        # -> DIRECTOR UNTIL
#> [1] "DIRECTOR UNTIL"
standardize_of("VICE PRESIDENT AS OF")               # -> VICE PRESIDENT SINCE
#> [1] "VICE PRESIDENT SINCE"

Input: TitleTxt2. Output: TitleTxt3, with & as the only separator between titles. Continue with step 04.