Variables in R

Learn how to create and work with variables in R

Variables in R store data that can be referenced and manipulated throughout code. The following demonstrates how to create and work with variables:

Basic Assignment

# Using the assignment operator (<-)
x <- 10
y <- "Hello, R!"
z <- TRUE

# Print the variables
x

[1] 10

y

[1] "Hello, R!"

z

[1] TRUE

Alternative Assignment Methods

# Using the equals sign (=)
age = 25

# Using the assignment operator in reverse (->)
"Data Scientist" -> job_title

# Print the variables
age

[1] 25

job_title

[1] "Data Scientist"

Variable Naming Rules

• Names can contain letters, numbers, dots (.) and underscores (_)
• Names must start with a letter or a dot
• If a name starts with a dot, it cannot be followed by a number
• Names are case-sensitive (Value and value are different variables)

# Valid variable names
valid_name <- 1
validName <- 2
valid.name <- 3
.hidden <- 4

# Print variables
valid_name

[1] 1

validName

[1] 2

valid.name

[1] 3

.hidden

[1] 4

Data Types

R has several basic data types:

# Numeric
num <- 42.5
typeof(num)

[1] "double"

# Integer (note the L suffix)
int <- 42L
typeof(int)

[1] "integer"

# Character
text <- "R programming"
typeof(text)

[1] "character"

# Logical
flag <- TRUE
typeof(flag)

[1] "logical"

Checking and Converting Types

# Check if a variable is of a specific type
is.numeric(num)

[1] TRUE

is.character(text)

[1] TRUE

# Convert between types
as.character(num)

[1] "42.5"

as.numeric("100")

[1] 100

as.logical(1)

[1] TRUE

Variable Information

# Get information about a variable
x <- c(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
class(x)

[1] "numeric"

length(x)

[1] 5

str(x)

 num [1:5] 1 2 3 4 5

Note that R is dynamically typed, so variables can change types during execution. This flexibility is one of R’s strengths for data analysis.