Faking tidyr::drop_na(..., logic = "all")

noam.R

library(tidyverse)
(df <- tibble(
  x = c(1, NA, 3, NA),
  y = c(1, NA, NA, 4),
  z = 1:4
))
#> # A tibble: 4 × 3
#>       x     y     z
#>   <dbl> <dbl> <int>
#> 1     1     1     1
#> 2    NA    NA     2
#> 3     3    NA     3
#> 4    NA     4     4

df %>% drop_na(x:y)
#> # A tibble: 1 × 3
#>       x     y     z
#>   <dbl> <dbl> <int>
#> 1     1     1     1

allNA <- . %>% map(is.na) %>% flatten_lgl() %>% all()
df %>%
  filter(!pmap_lgl(select(., x:y), lift_ld(allNA)))
#> # A tibble: 3 × 3
#>       x     y     z
#>   <dbl> <dbl> <int>
#> 1     1     1     1
#> 2     3    NA     3
#> 3    NA     4     4

Provoked by https://twitter.com/noamross/status/857609829480792064

Is there a simple idiom for removing data frame rows that are all NA, (or in which all of a range of columns are NA)?

Well, if you were provoked...

This is good because you can select the columns you want to be sensitive to the operation. The other options are less specific or specific to all columns being NA.