You can use the c() function in R to perform three common tasks:
1. Create a vector.
2. Concatenate multiple vectors.
3. Create columns in a data frame.
This function uses the following basic syntax:
my_vector
Note that c() stands for “combine” because it is used to combine several values or objects into one.
The following examples show how to use this function in practice.
Example 1: Use c() to Create a Vector
The following code shows how to use c() to create a numeric vector:
#create numeric vector
numeric_vector #display numeric vector
numeric_vector
[1] 4.00 7565.00 15.00 93.22 100.00 50.00 0.00
We can also use c() to create a character vector:
#create character vector
char_vector #display character vector
char_vector
[1] "A" "C" "L" "M" "O"
Example 2: Use c() to Concatenate Multiple Vectors
The following code shows how to use c() to concatenate multiple vectors into one:
#define two vectors
vec1 #concatenate vectors into one
vec3 #view concatenated vector
vec3
[1] 4 15 19 18 10 100 40 20 80 85
Example 3: Use c() to Create Columns in a Data Frame
The following code shows how to use c() to create columns in a data frame in R:
#create data frame with three columns df frame(team=c('A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E'), points=c(99, 90, 86, 88, 95), assists=c(33, 28, 31, 39, 34)) #view data frame df team points assists 1 A 99 33 2 B 90 28 3 C 86 31 4 D 88 39 5 E 95 34
The result is a data frame with three columns, each created by using the c() function.
Additional Resources
The following tutorials explain how to use other common functions in R:
How to Use paste & paste0 Functions in R
How to Use the replace() Function in R
How to Use the View() Function in R
How to Use rep() Function in R