How to Convert Vector to List in R (With Examples)

You can use the as.list() function to quickly convert a vector to a list in R.

This function uses the following basic syntax:

my_list list(my_vector)

The following example shows how to use this function in practice.

Example: Convert Vector to List in R

The following code shows how to use the as.list() function to convert a vector to a list:

#create vector
my_vector 

#convert vector to list
my_list list(my_vector)

#view list
my_list

[[1]]
[1] "A"

[[2]]
[1] "B"

[[3]]
[1] "C"

[[4]]
[1] "D"

We can use the class() function to confirm that the new object indeed has a class of list:

#view class of list
class(my_list)

[1] "list"

Bonus: Append Vector to List

You might think that you could use the following syntax to append the elements of a vector to a list in R:

#attempt to create list with 6 elements
some_list list(c('C', 'D', 'E', 'F')))

#view list
some_list

[[1]]
[1] "A"

[[2]]
[1] "B"

[[3]]
[[3]][[1]]
[1] "C"

[[3]][[2]]
[1] "D"

[[3]][[3]]
[1] "E"

[[3]][[4]]
[1] "F"

Rather than a list with six elements, the list has three elements and the third element has four sub-elements.

To append the elements of a vector to a list, we must use the following code:

#define vector
my_vector #define first list
list1 #convert vector to second list
list2 list(my_vector)

#create long list by combining first list and second list
list3 #view result
list3

[[1]]
[1] "A"

[[2]]
[1] "B"

[[3]]
[1] "C"

[[4]]
[1] "D"

[[5]]
[1] "E"

[[6]]
[1] "F"

The result is a list with six elements.

Additional Resources

The following tutorials explain how to perform other common tasks in R:

How to Convert List to Vector in R
How to Convert Matrix to Vector in R
How to Convert Data Frame Column to Vector in R