Factors

Factors are the data objects which are used to categorize the data and store it as
levels. They can store both strings and integers. They are useful in the columns
which have a limited number of unique values. Like "Male, "Female" and True,
False etc. They are useful in data analysis for statistical modeling.

Factors are created using the factor () function by taking a vector as input.

Factors are used to categorize data.

Examples of factors are:

Demography: Male/Female

Music: Rock, Pop, Classic, Jazz

Training: Strength, Stamina

To create a factor, use the factor() function and add a vector as argument:

Example

# Create a factor

music_genre <- factor(c("Jazz", "Rock", "Classic", "Classic", "Pop", "Jazz",

"Rock", "Jazz"))

# Print the factor

music_genre

Result:

[1] Jazz Rock Classic Classic Pop Jazz Rock Jazz

Levels: Classic Jazz Pop Rock

You can see from the example above that that the factor has four levels
(categories): Classic, Jazz, Pop and Rock.

To only print the levels, use the levels() function:

Example

music_genre <- factor(c("Jazz", "Rock", "Classic", "Classic", "Pop", "Jazz",

"Rock", "Jazz"))

levels(music_genre)

Result:

[1] "Classic" "Jazz" "Pop" "Rock"

You can also set the levels, by adding the levels argument inside the factor()
function

Example

music_genre <- factor(c("Jazz", "Rock", "Classic", "Classic", "Pop", "Jazz",

"Rock", "Jazz"), levels = c("Classic", "Jazz", "Pop", "Rock", "Other"))

levels(music_genre)

Result:

[1] "Classic" "Jazz" "Pop" "Rock" "Other"

Factor Length

Use the length() function to find out how many items there are in the factor:

Example

music_genre <- factor(c("Jazz", "Rock", "Classic", "Classic", "Pop", "Jazz",

"Rock", "Jazz"))

length(music_genre)

Result:

[1] 8

Access Factors

To access the items in a factor, refer to the index number, using [] brackets:
Example

Access the third item

music_genre <- factor(c("Jazz", "Rock", "Classic", "Classic", "Pop", "Jazz",

"Rock", "Jazz"))

music_genre[3]

Result:

[1] Classic

Levels: Classic Jazz Pop Rock

Change Item Value

To change the value of a specific item, refer to the index number:

Example

Change the value of the third item:

music_genre <- factor(c("Jazz", "Rock", "Classic", "Classic", "Pop", "Jazz",

"Rock", "Jazz"))

music_genre[3] <- "Pop"

music_genre[3]

Result:

[1] Pop

Levels: Classic Jazz Pop Rock

Note that you cannot change the value of a specific item if it is not already
specified in the factor. The following example will produce an error:

Example

Trying to change the value of the third item ("Classic") to an item that does not
exist/not predefined ("Opera"):
music_genre <- factor(c("Jazz", "Rock", "Classic", "Classic", "Pop", "Jazz",
"Rock", "Jazz"))

music_genre[3] <- "Opera"

music_genre[3]

Result:

Warning message:

In `[<-.factor`(`*tmp*`, 3, value = "Opera") :

invalid factor level, NA generated

However, if you have already specified it inside the levels argument, it will work:

Example

Change the value of the third item:

music_genre <- factor(c("Jazz", "Rock", "Classic", "Classic", "Pop", "Jazz",

"Rock", "Jazz"), levels = c("Classic", "Jazz", "Pop", "Rock", "Opera"))

music_genre[3] <- "Opera"

music_genre[3]

Result:

[1] Opera

Levels: Classic Jazz Pop Rock Opera

Changing the Order of Levels

The order of the levels in a factor can be changed by applying the factor function
again with new order of the levels.

data <- c("East","West","East","North","North","East","West",

"West","West","East","North")
# Create the factors
factor_data <- factor(data)
print(factor_data)

# Apply the factor function with required order of the level.

new_order_data <- factor(factor_data,levels = c("East","West","North"))
print(new_order_data)

When we execute the above code, it produces the following result −

[1] East West East North North East West West West East North
Levels: East North West
[1] East West East North North East West West West East North
Levels: East West North

Generating Factor Levels

We can generate factor levels by using the gl() function. It takes two integers as
input which indicates how many levels and how many times each level.

Syntax

gl(n, k, labels)

Following is the description of the parameters used −

• n is a integer giving the number of levels.

• k is a integer giving the number of replications.
• labels is a vector of labels for the resulting factor levels.

Example

v <- gl(3, 4, labels = c("Tampa", "Seattle","Boston"))

print(v)

When we execute the above code, it produces the following result −

Tampa Tampa Tampa Tampa Seattle Seattle Seattle Seattle Boston

[10] Boston Boston Boston
Levels: Tampa Seattle Boston
Data Frames
A data frame is a table or a two-dimensional array-like structure in which each
column contains values of one variable and each row contains one set of values
from each column.

Following are the characteristics of a data frame.

• The column names should be non-empty.

• The row names should be unique.
• The data stored in a data frame can be of numeric, factor or character type.
• Each column should contain same number of data items.

Data Frames are data displayed in a format as a table.

Data Frames can have different types of data inside it. While the first column can
be character, the second and third can be numeric or logical. However, each
column should have the same type of data.

Use the data.frame() function to create a data frame:

Example
# Create a data frame
Data_Frame <- data.frame (
Training = c("Strength", "Stamina", "Other"),
Pulse = c(100, 150, 120),
Duration = c(60, 30, 45))
# Print the data frame
Data_Frame

Training Pulse Duration

1 Strength 100 60
2 Stamina 150 30
3 Other 120 45

Summarize the Data

Use the summary() function to summarize the data from a Data Frame:
Example
Data_Frame <- data.frame (
Training = c("Strength", "Stamina", "Other"),
Pulse = c(100, 150, 120),
Duration = c(60, 30, 45)
)

Data_Frame

summary(Data_Frame)

Training Pulse Duration

1 Strength 100 60
2 Stamina 150 30
3 Other 120 45
Training Pulse Duration
Other :1 Min. :100.0 Min. :30.0
Stamina :1 1st Qu.:110.0 1st Qu.:37.5
Strength:1 Median :120.0 Median :45.0
Mean :123.3 Mean :45.0
3rd Qu.:135.0 3rd Qu.:52.5
Max. :150.0 Max. :60.0

Subsetting of data frames

Access Items

We can use single brackets [ ], double brackets [[ ]] or $ to access columns from a

data frame:

Example
Data_Frame <- data.frame (
Training = c("Strength", "Stamina", "Other"),
Pulse = c(100, 150, 120),
Duration = c(60, 30, 45)
)

Data_Frame[1]

Data_Frame[["Training"]]
Data_Frame$Training

Training
1 Strength
2 Stamina
3 Other
[1] Strength Stamina Other
Levels: Other Stamina Strength
[1] Strength Stamina Other
Levels: Other Stamina Strength

Expand Data Frame

A data frame can be expanded by adding columns and rows.

Add Rows

Use the rbind() function to add new rows in a Data Frame:

Example
Data_Frame <- data.frame (
Training = c("Strength", "Stamina", "Other"),
Pulse = c(100, 150, 120),
Duration = c(60, 30, 45)
)

# Add a new row

New_row_DF <- rbind(Data_Frame, c("Strength", 110, 110))

# Print the new row

New_row_DF

Training Pulse Duration

1 Strength 100 60
2 Stamina 150 30
3 Other 120 45
4 Strength 110 110
Add Columns

Use the cbind() function to add new columns in a Data Frame:

Example
Data_Frame <- data.frame (
Training = c("Strength", "Stamina", "Other"),
Pulse = c(100, 150, 120),
Duration = c(60, 30, 45)
)

# Add a new column

New_col_DF <- cbind(Data_Frame, Steps = c(1000, 6000, 2000))

# Print the new column

New_col_DF

Training Pulse Duration Steps

1 Strength 100 60 1000
2 Stamina 150 30 6000
3 Other 120 45 2000

Remove Rows and Columns

Use the c() function to remove rows and columns in a Data Frame:

Example
Data_Frame <- data.frame (
Training = c("Strength", "Stamina", "Other"),
Pulse = c(100, 150, 120),
Duration = c(60, 30, 45)
)

# Remove the first row and column

Data_Frame_New <- Data_Frame[-c(1), -c(1)]

# Print the new data frame

Data_Frame_New

Pulse Duration
2 150 30
3 120 45

Amount of Rows and Columns

Use the dim() function to find the amount of rows and columns in a Data Frame:

Example
Data_Frame <- data.frame (
Training = c("Strength", "Stamina", "Other"),
Pulse = c(100, 150, 120),
Duration = c(60, 30, 45)
)

dim(Data_Frame)
[1] 3 3

You can also use the ncol() function to find the number of columns and nrow() to
find the number of rows:

Example
Data_Frame <- data.frame (
Training = c("Strength", "Stamina", "Other"),
Pulse = c(100, 150, 120),
Duration = c(60, 30, 45)
)

ncol(Data_Frame)
nrow(Data_Frame)

[1] 3
[1] 3

Data Frame Length

Use the length() function to find the number of columns in a Data Frame (similar
to ncol()):
Example
Data_Frame <- data.frame (
Training = c("Strength", "Stamina", "Other"),
Pulse = c(100, 150, 120),
Duration = c(60, 30, 45)
)

length(Data_Frame)
[1] 3

Combining Data Frames

Use the rbind() function to combine two or more data frames in R vertically:

Example
Data_Frame1 <- data.frame (
Training = c("Strength", "Stamina", "Other"),
Pulse = c(100, 150, 120),
Duration = c(60, 30, 45)
)

Data_Frame2 <- data.frame (

Training = c("Stamina", "Stamina", "Strength"),
Pulse = c(140, 150, 160),
Duration = c(30, 30, 20)
)

New_Data_Frame <- rbind(Data_Frame1, Data_Frame2)

New_Data_Frame

Training Pulse Duration

1 Strength 100 60
2 Stamina 150 30
3 Other 120 45
4 Stamina 140 30
5 Stamina 150 30
6 Strength 160 20
And use the cbind() function to combine two or more data frames in R
horizontally:

Example
Data_Frame3 <- data.frame (
Training = c("Strength", "Stamina", "Other"),
Pulse = c(100, 150, 120),
Duration = c(60, 30, 45)
)

Data_Frame4 <- data.frame (

Steps = c(3000, 6000, 2000),
Calories = c(300, 400, 300)
)

New_Data_Frame1 <- cbind(Data_Frame3, Data_Frame4)

New_Data_Frame1
Training Pulse Duration Steps Calories
1 Strength 100 60 3000 300
2 Stamina 150 30 6000 400
3 Other 120 45 2000 300

R Sort a Data Frame using Order()

In data analysis you can sort your data according to a certain variable in the
dataset. In R, we can use the help of the function order(). In R, we can easily sort a
vector of continuous variable or factor variable. Arranging the data can be
of ascending or descending order.

Syntax:sort(x, decreasing = FALSE, na.last = TRUE):

Argument:

• x: A vector containing continuous or factor variable

• decreasing: Control for the order of the sort method. By default, decreasing
is set to `FALSE`.
• last: Indicates whether the `NA` ‘s value should be put last or not
 • # Create Data Frame
• df=data.frame(id=c(11,22,33,44,55),
• name=c("spark","python","R","jsp","java"),
• price=c(144,NA,321,567,567),
• publish_date= as.Date(
• c("2007-06-22", "2004-02-13", "2006 -05-18",
• "2010-09-02","2007-07-20"))
• )
•

EXAMPLE

Let’s use the above-created data.frame and order() function to sort

the R dataframe by column value in ascending order. The following
example sorts the data by column price. Since the order() function takes
the vector as an argument, use df$price as an arg ument. Note that in R,
every column in DataFrame is a vector.
# Sort DataFrame
df2 <- df[order(df$price),]
df2
Lists

Lists are the R objects which contain elements of different types like − numbers,
strings, vectors and another list inside it. A list can also contain a matrix or a
function as its elements. List is created using list() function.

A list in R can contain many different data types inside it. A list is a collection of
data which is ordered and changeable.

To create a list, use the list() function:

Example
# List of strings
thislist <- list("apple", "banana", "cherry")

# Print the list

thislist
Output
[[1]]
[1] "apple"
[[2]]
[1] "banana"

[[3]]
[1] "cherry"

Access Lists

You can access the list items by referring to its index number, inside
brackets. The first item has index 1, the second item has index 2, and so
on:

Example
thislist <- list("apple", "banana", "cherry")

thislist[1]
Output
[[1]]
[1] "apple"

Change Item Value

To change the value of a specific item, refer to the index number:

Example
thislist <- list("apple", "banana", "cherry")
thislist[1] <- "blackcurrant"

# Print the updated list

thislist
Output
[[1]]
[1] "blackcurrant"

[[2]]
[1] "banana"

[[3]]
[1] "cherry"

List Length

To find out how many items a list has, use the length() function:

Example
thislist <- list("apple", "banana", "cherry")

length(thislist)
Output
[1] 3

Check if Item Exists

To find out if a specified item is present in a list, use the %in% operator:

Example
Check if "apple" is present in the list:
thislist <- list("apple", "banana", "cherry")

"apple" %in% thislist

Output
[1] TRUE
Add List Items

To add an item to the end of the list, use the append() function:

Example
Add "orange" to the list:
thislist <- list("apple", "banana", "cherry")

append(thislist, "orange")
Output
[[1]]
[1] "apple"

[[2]]
[1] "banana"

[[3]]
[1] "cherry"

[[4]]
[1] "orange"

To add an item to the right of a specified index, add "after=index

number" in the append() function:

Example
Add "orange" to the list after "banana" (index 2):
thislist <- list("apple", "banana", "cherry")

append(thislist, "orange", after = 2)

Output
[[1]]
[1] "apple"

[[2]]
[1] "banana"

[[3]]
[1] "orange"

[[4]]
[1] "cherry"

Remove List Items

You can also remove list items. The following example creates a new,
updated list without an "apple" item:

Example
Remove "apple" from the list:
thislist <- list("apple", "banana", "cherry")

newlist <- thislist[-1]

# Print the new list

newlist
Output
[[1]]
[1] "banana"

[[2]]
[1] "cherry"

Range of Indexes
You can specify a range of indexes by specifying where to start and
where to end the range, by using the : operator:

Example
Return the second, third, fourth and fifth item:
thislist <-
list("apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange", "kiwi", "melon", "mango")

(thislist)[2:5]
Output
[[1]]
[1] "banana"

[[2]]
[1] "cherry"

[[3]]
[1] "orange"

[[4]]
[1] "kiwi"

Note: The search will start at index 2 (included) and end at index 5
(included).
Remember that the first item has index 1.

Join Two Lists

There are several ways to join, or concatenate, two or more lists in R.

The most common way is to use the c() function, which combines two
elements together:
Example
list1 <- list("a", "b", "c")
list2 <- list(1,2,3)
list3 <- c(list1,list2)

list3
Output
[[1]]
[1] "a"

[[2]]
[1] "b"

[[3]]
[1] "c"

[[4]]
[1] 1

[[5]]
[1] 2

[[6]]
[1] 3

Converting a List to Vector in R Language –

unlist() Function

unlist() function in R Language is used to convert a list to vector. It simplifies to

produce a vector by preserving all components.

Syntax: unlist(list)
Parameters:
list: It is a list or Vector
use.name: Boolean value to prserve or not the position names
Example 1: Converting list numeric vector into a single vector

# R program to illustrate

# converting list to vector

# Creating a list.

my_list <- list(l1 = c(1, 3, 5, 7),

l2 = c(1, 2, 3),

l3 = c(1, 1, 10, 5, 8, 65, 90))

# Apply unlist R function

print(unlist(my_list))

Output:
l11 l12 l13 l14 l21 l22 l23 l31 l32 l33 l34 l35 l36 l37
1 3 5 7 1 2 3 1 1 10 5 8 65 90

Here in the above code we have unlisted my_list using unlist() and convert it to a
single vector.
As illustrated above, the list will dissolve and every element will be in the same
line as shown above.