# `iriv_select` — IRIV — Iteratively Retaining Informative Variables
_Group_: **Variable selector** · _Registry tolerance_: `1e-06`
## Description
Iteratively Retains Informative Variables (Phase 51)
From the `pls4all.sklearn.IRIVSelector` docstring:
> IRIV — Iteratively Retains Informative Variables (Yun 2014).
> **Registry note** — NumPy port of libPLS `iriv` (Yun 2014). Mann-Whitney U test via `scipy.stats.mannwhitneyu`. Default `_iriv_select_pls4all` path invokes the same NumPy function with `np.random.default_rng(seed)`, giving bit-exact mask parity. The C++ splitmix64 kernel is opt-in via `legacy=True`.
### Parameters
| Name | Type | Default | Notes |
|------|------|---------|-------|
| `n_components` | `int` | `2` | Number of latent components extracted (k). |
| `max_rounds` | `int` | `5` | Maximum rounds of strongly/weakly informative reclassification. |
| `n_folds` | `int` | `5` | Number of cross-validation folds used inside the selector. |
| `seed` | `int` | `0` | Random seed for reproducible sampling/initialization. |
| `fold` | `int` | `3` | registry benchmark cell value |
## Explanations
### Bibliographic source
Yun, Y. H., Wang, W. T., Tan, M. L., Liang, Y. Z., Li, H. D., Cao, D. S., Lu, H. M. & Xu, Q. S. (2014). *A strategy that iteratively retains informative variables for selecting optimal variable subset in multivariate calibration*. Analytica Chimica Acta 807, 36–43.
### Mathematical principle
IRIV classifies each variable into four categories at each iteration: **strongly informative**, **weakly informative**, **uninformative**, **interfering**. The first two are retained, the last two eliminated. Iteration continues until no further interfering variables remain.
Categories are determined by Monte-Carlo subset analysis with a permutation-based reference distribution: each variable's CV-RMSE contribution distribution is compared against the distribution under random subset inclusion. This four-way classification is more nuanced than single-threshold methods and tends to handle correlated predictors well (correlated features can both be 'weakly informative').
### Implementation
`n4m_feature_selection_iriv_select`.
R roxygen note (`methods_extra.R::iriv_select`):
> IRIV — Iteratively Retains Informative Variables.
> @param n_components Integer. Number of latent components.
> @param max_rounds Method-specific parameter. See the underlying `*_fit()` function for the exact semantics.
> @param seed Integer. Random seed for reproducibility.
> @param X Numeric matrix of predictors (rows = samples, cols = features).
> @param Y Numeric matrix or vector of responses, with one row per sample.
> @export
### Usage
Every pls4all binding tab dispatches into the same C kernel; the external libraries listed at the bottom of the page are the parity references registered in `benchmarks.parity_timing.registry`. Switch tabs to read the same fit in your language. The R package now ships drop-in-compatible facades for the CRAN `pls` package (`plsr`, `pcr`, `mvr`) and for the `mdatools::pls(x, y, ...)` matrix idiom — those tabs appear only on the methods that have a meaningful equivalence.
**pls4all bindings**
::::{tab-set}
:class: pls4all-bindings
:::{tab-item} C ABI · libn4m
:sync: c
:class-label: lang-c
```c
/* C ABI — libn4m */
n4m_context_t* ctx = n4m_context_create();
n4m_config_t* cfg = n4m_config_create();
n4m_method_result_t* res = NULL;
n4m_feature_selection_iriv_select(ctx, cfg, &x_view, &y_view, /* hyperparams */, &res);
/* … read coefficients / mask / scores via */
/* n4m_method_result_get_double_matrix / vector / scalar … */
n4m_method_result_destroy(res);
n4m_config_destroy(cfg);
n4m_context_destroy(ctx);
```
:::
:::{tab-item} Python · pls4all (raw)
:sync: python-raw
:class-label: lang-python
```python
import pls4all
from pls4all._methods import iriv_select_fit
with pls4all.Context() as ctx, pls4all.Config() as cfg:
res = iriv_select_fit(ctx, cfg, X, y, n_components=4)
# then: res.matrix("predictions"), res.matrix("coefficients"),
# res.vector("mask"), res.scalar("intercept"), …
```
:::
:::{tab-item} Python · pls4all.sklearn
:sync: python-sklearn
:class-label: lang-python
```python
from pls4all.sklearn import IRIVSelector
mdl = IRIVSelector(n_components=2, max_rounds=5, n_folds=5, seed=0)
mdl.fit(X, y)
y_hat = mdl.predict(X_test)
```
:::
:::{tab-item} R · pls4all_method()
:sync: r-dispatcher
:class-label: lang-r
```r
library(pls4all)
# Unified low-level dispatcher (May 2026 R cleanup):
res <- pls4all_method("iriv_select", X, y,
n_components = 4L, params = list(max_rounds = 3L, fold = 3L, seed = 11L))
# res is a named list with MethodResult arrays/scalars.
# selected_indices / top_k_intervals are 1-based.
```
:::
:::{tab-item} R · pls4all (raw fn)
:sync: r-raw
:class-label: lang-r
```r
library(pls4all)
res <- iriv_select(X, Y, n_components, max_rounds = 20L, seed = 0L)
yhat <- pls4all_predict(res, X_test)
```
:::
:::{tab-item} MATLAB · pls4all (MEX)
:sync: matlab-mex
:class-label: lang-matlab
```matlab
res = pls4all.iriv_select(X, y, 4);
% see header of bindings/matlab/+pls4all/iriv_select.m for full
% parameter surface:
% res = iriv_select(X, Y, n_components, max_rounds, seed)
yhat = predict(res, Xtest);
```
:::
:::{tab-item} MATLAB · pls4all (classdef)
:sync: matlab-classdef
:class-label: lang-matlab
_No idiomatic classdef wrapper — invoke `pls4all.fit("iriv_select", X, y, …)` directly from the unified MEX factory._
:::
::::
**Registry parity references** 📐
:::{card}
:class-card: external-refs
- 📐 **`ref.python_iriv_numpy_port`** (python · python) — `iriv_numpy_port` 1.0.0 · strict (rmse_rel ≤ 1e-06) — NumPy port of libPLS `iriv` (Yun 2014). Mann-Whitney U test via `scipy.stats.mannwhitneyu`; binary-matrix sampler keyed to `np.random.default_rng(seed)` for bit-exact reproducibility.
:::
### Benchmarks
Adaptive wall-clock per cell measured against [`full_matrix.csv`](../benchmarks/overview.md). Only backends that implement this method are listed; libraries without the method are omitted.
**Verdict** · ✓ ref / ≈ ref / ~ shape mark a reference-gate pass at strict / relaxed / qualitative tolerance · ✓ bind = pls4all binding agrees with the C++ baseline · ⇄ cross-check = documented by-design selector/RNG/model, noncanonical API/facade convention, or secondary oracle · ✗ divergent · ⚠ error · — not run. The fastest backend per column is marked 🏆.
**Reference gate**: strict — numeric equivalence (`rmse_rel_tol ≤ 1e-06`).
Rows tagged with **📐** are the canonical parity references for this method (declared in [`parity_timing.registry`](../benchmarks/methodology.md)). C++ and external rows show reference parity; pls4all language bindings show binding parity against the C++ backend. Hover the icon for role and tolerance band.
::::{tab-set}
:class: parity-tabs
:::{tab-item} 1 thread
:sync: threads-1
| Backend | Parity | 80×25 (ms) |
| C++ native · libn4m |
pls4all.cpp.blas+omp | ✓ J 1.00 | 268.0 ms |
| Python · pls4all |
pls4all.python | ✓ J 1.00 | 270.2 ms |
pls4all.sklearn | ⇄ J 0.60 | 25.3 ms🏆 |
| R · pls4all |
pls4all.R | ⇄ J 0.60 | 29.4 ms |
pls4all.R.formula | ⇄ J 0.60 | 30.0 ms |
pls4all.R.mdatools | ⇄ J 0.60 | 30.8 ms |
pls4all.R.pls | ⇄ J 0.60 | 30.5 ms |
| Python · external |
📐ref.python_iriv_numpy_port | source | 274.8 ms |
:::
:::{tab-item} 3 threads
:sync: threads-3
| Backend | Parity | 80×25 (ms) |
| C++ native · libn4m |
pls4all.cpp.blas+omp | ✓ J 1.00 | 273.2 ms |
| Python · pls4all |
pls4all.python | ✓ J 1.00 | 267.2 ms |
pls4all.sklearn | ⇄ J 0.60 | 25.1 ms🏆 |
| R · pls4all |
pls4all.R | ⇄ J 0.60 | 29.8 ms |
pls4all.R.formula | ⇄ J 0.60 | 30.8 ms |
pls4all.R.mdatools | ⇄ J 0.60 | 30.6 ms |
pls4all.R.pls | ⇄ J 0.60 | 30.3 ms |
| Python · external |
📐ref.python_iriv_numpy_port | source | 275.1 ms |
:::
:::{tab-item} 10 threads
:sync: threads-10
| Backend | Parity | 80×25 (ms) |
| C++ native · libn4m |
pls4all.cpp.blas+omp | ✓ J 1.00 | 274.2 ms |
| Python · pls4all |
pls4all.python | ✓ J 1.00 | 275.4 ms |
pls4all.sklearn | ⇄ J 0.60 | 25.4 ms🏆 |
| R · pls4all |
pls4all.R | ⇄ J 0.60 | 29.9 ms |
pls4all.R.formula | ⇄ J 0.60 | 30.7 ms |
pls4all.R.mdatools | ⇄ J 0.60 | 31.0 ms |
pls4all.R.pls | ⇄ J 0.60 | 30.7 ms |
| Python · external |
📐ref.python_iriv_numpy_port | source | 270.7 ms |
:::
::::
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_See also_: [benchmark overview](../benchmarks/overview.md) · [methods index](index.md) · [interactive dashboard](../landing/dashboard.md)