How to replace an instance of an old character of a string in R
Overview
When writing code, at some point you might want to replace a particular character of a string variable at once, and you may not have an idea how to do it. This shot explains how to conveniently do just that.
Replacing a string character
To replace a character, especially an old character of a string in R, we use the chartr() function.
The chartr() function in R replaces an instance of an old character with a new character in the specified string set.
Syntax
chartr(old, new, x)
Parameters
The chartr() function takes the following parameter values:
old: This represents the old character of the specified string you wish to replace.new: This represents the new character.x: The specified string.
Return value
The chartr() function returns a modified string.
Example 1
# creating a string variablemystring = "Hi Theo would you like to have some cookies?"# replacing "o" with "U" using the chartr() functionchartr("o", "U", mystring)
Explanation
- Line 2: We create a string variable
mystring. - Line 5: Using the
chartr()function, we change every instance of theocharacter in the string toU.
Interestingly, the chartr() function does not apply to just a single character but also to multiple characters.
Example 2
# creating a string variablemystring = "Hi Theo would you like to have some cookies?"# replacing "o" with "1", "u" with "2" and "e" with "3"chartr("oue", "123", mystring)
Explanation
Line 5: We change multiple characters o, u, and e to 1, 2 and 3 respectively at any of their instances in the string mystring.