How to change the value of a vector item in R

Overview

A vector in R is a list of items of the same data type.

To create a list of combined items forming a vector, we use the c() function. This function only takes the list of items that make up the vector object we create.

Let’s create a vector:

# Vector of strings
my_vector1 <- c("pear", "cherry", "lemon")
# vector of numbers
my_vector2 <- c(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
# Printing the vectors
my_vector1
my_vector2

Code explanation

  • Line 2: We create a vector my_vector1 containing string values or items.

  • Line 5: We create another vector, my_vector2, containing numerical values or items.

  • Lines 8 & 9: We print the two vectors we create.

Changing the value of vector items

To change the value of a vector item, we refer to their index number or position in the given vector inside brackets []. We then assign it to a new value.

The code below shows this:

Code example

# creating a vector
my_vector <- c("pear", "cherry", "lemon")
# change "pear" to apple
my_vector[1] <- "apple"
my_vector

Code explanation

  • Line 2: We create a vector, my_vector.
  • Line 5: We change the item pear by referring to its index number or position inside a bracket [1]. Then, we assign it to the new value we want, "apple".
  • Line 7: We print the modified vector.

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