What are vectors and how to do vector assignment in R?

Vectors

Vectors data structures in R consist of order collection of numbers, characters, or strings. There are two major types of vectors:

• Atomic or homogeneous vectors

• Recursive or heterogeneous vectors.

To create a vector named x, with values namely 10, 20, 30, 3.5 and 3.8, use c() function in R command:

x <- c(10, 20, 30, 3.5, 3.8)

Note: The c() function will return a vector.

Assignment in R

There are various methods or operators in R to perform assignment operations. Let’s discuss some techniques to perform this operation on vectors.

Using<- operator

This assignment operator(<-) consists of two characters:

• < (less than)
• - (minus)

These two characters occur side by side, while the tip points to a variable will receive an assignment value. The assignment of <- operator is also possible in reverse direction ->.

Example

Let’s look at the code below:

Explanation

• Line 3: We create a vector using the c() function and assign it to the x variable using <- operator.
• Line 4: We print the vector x on console.
• Line 6: We create a vector using the c() function and assign it to y variable using -> reversed operator.
• Line 7: We print vector y to the console.

Using = operator

Equal to (=) operator is also used for value assignment. So, we can perform the above operation like:

x = c(9, 8, 23, 4.5, 9.8)

Example

Let’s understand the equal = operator with the help of a code example:

Explanation

• Line 2: We create a vector x using the c() function and equal to = operator.
• Line 3: We print x to the console.

Using assign()

Assignment can also be made by using the assign() method. It’s an equivalent method of assignment as above.

Example

In the example below, we use the assign() function in detail:

Explanation

• Line 2: We use the assign() function for assignment second argument value to first one.
• Line 3: We print the vector x to the console.