Vector Element names in R Programming

 

Vector element names in R programming allow us to assign names to each element in a vector, making it easier to identify and access specific elements within the vector.Vector element names are useful when we are working with large datasets, and we need to identify specific elements within a vector.

They are also helpful when we need to perform operations on specific elements of a vector or when we need to merge two or more vectors together.

Ø   There are two types of vector element names in R programming: 

implicit and 

explicit.

A. Implicit element names are created automatically when we create a vector using the c() function. The names of the vector elements are simply the index numbers of the elements.

For example:

# Create a vector with implicit element names

x <- c(10, 20, 30)

# Access elements of a named vector using implicit names

x[1]  

x[2]  

x[3]    

Output:

[1] 10

[1] 20

[1] 30

In this example, the vector x has implicit element names, which are the index numbers of the elements (i.e., 1, 2, and 3).

B. Explicit element names are assigned to vector elements using the names() function. The names must be in the same order as the elements in the vector.

For example:

# Create a vector with explicit element names

x <- c(apples = 10, oranges = 20, bananas = 30)

# Access elements of a named vector using explicit names

x["apples"]

x["oranges"] 

x["bananas"] 

Output:

Apples         10 

Oranges      20 

Bananas      30 

l   In addition, we can modify the element names of a vector using the names() function.

For example:

# Modify the element names of a named vector

names(x) <- c("red apples", "orange oranges", "yellow bananas")

# Access elements of a named vector using explicit names

x["red apples"]

x["orange oranges"]

x["yellow bananas"]

Output:

  red apples                        orange oranges                   yellow bananas 

          10                              20                                           30 

In this example, we use the names() function to modify the element names of the vector x. We assign new names to the elements, and the vector is now a named vector with the new element names.