How to add an item before a specified index in a list in R
Overview
A list in R is simply a collection of ordered and changeable data. A list contains different data types such as strings or numbers. The elements contained in a given list are referred to as the item of the list.
Creating a list
We use the list() function to create a list in R. This function takes the list of items you want on the list as parameters.
Example
# creating a string and numerical listsmylist1 <- list("cherry", 'banana', 'orange')mylist2 <- list(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)# to print the listsmylist1mylist2
Code Explanation
We create two list variables mylist1 and mylist2 that have strings and numbers respectively.
Adding an item to the right of a specified index of a list
Remember that in R, the first index of any given character is 1. For example, the “H” in “Hello” has the index value 1, the second character “e” has index value 2, and so on.
Now, to add an item to the list in R, we use the append() function. To add an item to the right of a specified index in a code, we add after = index number inside the append function.
Syntax
append(list, item, after = index number)
Example
# creating a string and numerical listsmylist <- list("cherry", 'banana', 'apple')# implementing the append() functionappend(mylist, "orange", after = 2)
Explanation
In the code above we create a list mylist, and add the item "orange" to the list right after the second item, “banana”.