what is assign function in r

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How to Use the assign() Function in R (3 Examples)

The assign() function in R can be used to assign values to variables.

This function uses the following basic syntax:

assign(x, value)

• x : A variable name, given as a character string.
• value : The value(s) to be assigned to x.

The following examples show how to use this function in practice.

Example 1: Assign One Value to One Variable

The following code shows how to use the assign() function to assign the value of 5 to a variable called new_variable:

When we print the variable called new_variable , we can see that a value of 5 appears.

Example 2: Assign Vector of Values to One Variable

The following code shows how to use the assign() function to assign a vector of values to a variable called new_variable:

When we print the variable called new_variable , we can see that a vector of values appears.

Example 3: Assign Values to Several Variables

The following code shows how to use the assign() function within a for loop to assign specific values to several new variables:

By using the assign() function with a for loop, we were able to create four new variables.

Additional Resources

The following tutorials explain how to use other common functions in R:

How to Use the dim() Function in R How to Use the table() Function in R How to Use sign() Function in R

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assign Function in R (2 Examples)

In this tutorial, I’ll illustrate how to assign values to a variable name using the assign() function in R .

Table of contents:

Sound good? Great, here’s how to do it…

Definition & Basic R Syntax of assign Function

Definition: The assign R function assigns values to a variable name.

Basic R Syntax: Please find the basic R programming syntax of the assign function below.

In the remaining article, I’ll show you two examples for the application of the assign function in the R programming language.

Example 1: Using assign Function to Create New Vector

In Example 1, I’ll show how to use the assign() command to assign numeric values to a new vector object.

Within the assign function, we have to specify the name of the new vector (i.e. “x”) and the values we want to store in this vector object (i.e. five numeric values ranging from 1 to 5):

Let’s have a look at our new data object x:

As you can see based on the previous output of the RStudio console, we have saved a numeric sequence from 1 to 5 in a new variable called x.

Example 2: Using assign & paste0 Functions Dynamically in for-Loop

In Example 2, I’ll show how to use the assign function in combination with the paste0 function to create new variable names within a for-loop dynamically.

Within the assign function, we are using paste0 to create new variable names combining the prefix “x_” with the running index i:

Let’s have a look at the output variables:

Video, Further Resources & Summary

Have a look at the following video of my YouTube channel. I explain the contents of this article in the video:

The YouTube video will be added soon.

In addition, you might have a look at the related tutorials on this homepage .

• for-Loop in R
• paste & paste0 R Functions
• R Functions List (+ Examples)
• The R Programming Language

In this R tutorial you learned how to create new data objects using assign() . In case you have further questions, let me know in the comments section.

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Related Tutorials

Compare Vectors and Find Differences in R (5 Examples)

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How to Use the assign() Function in R (3 Examples)

The assign() function in R can be used to assign values to variables.

This function uses the following basic syntax:

assign(x, value)

• x : A variable name, given as a character string.
• value : The value(s) to be assigned to x.

The following examples show how to use this function in practice.

Example 1: Assign One Value to One Variable

The following code shows how to use the assign() function to assign the value of 5 to a variable called new_variable:

When we print the variable called new_variable , we can see that a value of 5 appears.

Example 2: Assign Vector of Values to One Variable

The following code shows how to use the assign() function to assign a vector of values to a variable called new_variable:

When we print the variable called new_variable , we can see that a vector of values appears.

Example 3: Assign Values to Several Variables

The following code shows how to use the assign() function within a for loop to assign specific values to several new variables:

By using the assign() function with a for loop, we were able to create four new variables.

Additional Resources

The following tutorials explain how to use other common functions in R:

How to Use the dim() Function in R How to Use the table() Function in R How to Use sign() Function in R

How to Perform a One Sample T-Test in R

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Assigning values to variables in R programming – assign() Function

In R programming, assign() method is used to assign the value to a variable in an environment.

Syntax : assign(variable, value) Return : Return the variable having value assigned.

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Assign in r – How to use R’s assign function to assign values to a variable name

Sometimes in programming, it is helpful to have alternative ways of doing things. Not only can this provide for some variety in your code, but sometimes it can also make it more readable. It turns out that the R programming language has three separate ways to assign values to a variable. Knowing all three will help you to be able to read any R program that you find.

Description

R programming has three ways of assigning values to a variable. They are =, <-, and the assign function. The assign function has the basic format of assign(“variable”, value) where “variable” is the name of the variable receiving the values, note that it needs to be in quotes, and “value” is the value being assigned to that variable. While under most circumstances they work the same, they do have differences. The assign function has the advantage that it will show up in a text search of the program when you are looking for assign, while the two operators will not show up in such a search. In practice it differs little from the assign operators of = and <-, but it does resemble similar functions from other languages.

Explanation

The assign function has two required arguments, two are optional arguments you are likely to use, and two arguments that exist to maintain compatibility. The two required arguments are the variable and the value being assigned to it. The two optional arguments are the “pos” which indicates the environment the object is assigned to and ‘inherits” is a Boolean that indicates whether or not to restrict the object to the current environment. The two compatibility arguments are “envir” which selects the environment of the object and “immediate” which is unused and exists only for compatibility reasons. The assign function takes the variable name and assigns the indicated value to it within the specified environmental conditions. These arguments give the assign function more flexibility than the assign operators, making it a particularly useful function under the right conditions.

Here we have four code examples that show different situations where the assign function is being used. It needs to be noted that this function can be used with any values that the assign operators can use.

> assign(“x”, 17) > x [1] 17

In this example, we illustrate the most basic use of the assign function. In this case, we are simply assigning a value to a single variable.

> assign(“x”, c(“a”, “b”, “c”, “d”, “e”, “f”, “g”)) > x [1] “a” “b” “c” “d” “e” “f” “g”

In this example, we illustrate the creation of a vector using the combine function.

> assign(“x”, c(“a”, “b”, “c”, “d”, “e”, “f”, “g”)) > assign(“y”, 1:7) > assign(“df”, data.frame(x,y)) > df x y 1 a 1 2 b 2 3 c 3 4 d 4 5 e 5 6 f 6 7 g 7

In this example, we illustrate the creation of a data frame using the data frame function in its simplest form. It is easy to see how using this function to create more complex data frames could become problematic and rather cumbersome.

> for(i in 1:5) { + assign(paste0(“x_”, i), i) + } > x_1 [1] 1 > x_2 [1] 2 > x_3 [1] 3 > x_4 [1] 4 > x_5 [1] 5

In this example, we illustrate how to use the assign function along with the paste0 function to create multiple variables with different values.

Application

The main application of the assign function is to assign values to variables. However, this function has additional arguments that give it increased environmental flexibility, allowing you to control whether or not the object that you are creating is restricted to a particular environment. This makes the assign function more powerful in some ways than the assign operators . As a result, an important application of this function is to be able to assign values to variables under circumstances where the program needs to decide on the fly the environmental limitations of the object being created. If you need this flexibility, that is the time to use the assign function. The other situation where this function comes in handy would be if you were creating code that is designed to be as searchable as possible because the word “assign” is a search term that someone is likely to use.

The assign function may at first glance seem redundant, but its additional arguments give it added flexibility over the assign operators. As a result, this function can actually be a useful tool. This flexibility makes it a powerful tool that you will probably find more useful as you get more experience with it.

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When performing calculations, we may want to save the intermediate results for later use. This can be achieved by assigning values to symbolic variables using an "assign" function. Once you assign an object a designation, it stays in the working memory until you close the program. To see what objects are in the working memory, type ls(), or select Show Workspace command from the dropdown menu.

So to create a scalar constant x with value of 2, we type

> assign("x", 2)

This can also be simplified by using the operator <-

[Note that the symbol <- is made up from "less than" and "minus" with NO space between them.]

For example,

> x <- 2

Assignment can also be done in the opposite direction using the symbol -> . For example,

> 3 -> y

The arrow for the assignment symbol always points to the name assigned to the vector.

We can also assign multiple objects the same value, as follows:

> x <- y <- 2

A complete listing can be found here: http://stuff.mit.edu/afs/sipb/project/r-project/arch/i386_rhel3/lib/R/library/graphics/html/plotmath.html .

Vectors are variables with one or more values of the same type, e.g., numerical, logical or character variables. For example, a numeric vector might consist of the numbers (1.2, 2.3, 0.2, 1.1). A vector can also have just a single variable.

To create a vector named x, consisting of four numbers, naming 1.2, 2.3, 0.2 and 1.1, we can use the R command

> x <- c(1.2, 2.3, 0.2, 1.1)

[1] 1.2 2.3 0.2 1.1

Also, we can use the function length() to find out how many elements the vector has.

> length(x)

If we want to select only some elements in the vector, then we can use indices . For example, if we want to know what the last three elements are in variable x, then we can type

> x[c(2,3,4)]

[1] 2.3 0.2 1.1

> rm(list=ls())

R allows us to create logical vectors and to manipulate logical quantities as well. To create logical vectors, you may use TRUE, FALSE, or NA (for missing / not available ) directly, or type in the condition/logic operation. Note that in order to be used in arithmetic calculations, R treats TRUE as 1 and FALSE as 0 .

Let's look at some examples to see how these operators work.

> 1>=3

> !(1>3)

> (3 != 1) & (2 >= 1.9)

> y <- c(TRUE, FALSE, 5 > 2)

[1]  TRUE FALSE  TRUE

> sum(y)

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assign() Function in R

assign() is a function in R that allows us to create a new variable and assign it a value or assign a new value to an existing variable. While this might seem straightforward and similar to the traditional assignment operator <- or = , assign() is more flexible as it allows dynamic assignment of variable names.In this article, we will explore the assign() function in depth, discussing its syntax, parameters, usage, and illustrating how to use it in different scenarios.

Understanding the assign() Function

The basic syntax for the assign() function is as follows:

The function includes the following parameters:

• x : This is a character vector of length one specifying the name of the variable to which we assign a value.
• value : The value to be assigned.
• pos : The search path position to use, defaults to -1 .
• envir : An alternative way to specify an environment, but usually not used because pos = -1 refers to the current environment.
• inherits : Should the assignment be made in the parent environment if an existing variable with the name x is found there? The default is FALSE .
• immediate : Should the assignment be made immediately? If FALSE , the variable x will be watched and assigned the value only when it is evaluated. This parameter is rarely used and typically left to the default of TRUE .

The most commonly used parameters are x and value . The others are less commonly used and, in many situations, can be left to their default values.

Using the assign() Function

The most basic use of the assign() function involves assigning a value to a new variable. Here’s an example:

In this code snippet, assign("x", 10) creates a new variable x and assigns it the value 10 . When we print(x) , the output will be 10 .You can check that x has indeed been assigned to your environment using the ls() function:

This will print all the variables in your current environment, including x .

Using assign() in Different Scenarios

Dynamic variable names.

One of the significant advantages of assign() is the ability to create dynamic variable names. For instance, suppose you’re running a simulation and need to store the results of each iteration in a separately named variable. Here’s how you can do this using assign() :

In this example, we create five variables ( result_1 through result_5 ), each storing 100 random numbers from a standard normal distribution.

Working with Data Frames

assign() can be particularly useful when working with data frames. For example, suppose you have a list of data frames and you want to assign each data frame to a separate variable. Here’s how you can do it:

In this example, we create two variables ( df_1 and df_2 ), each storing a separate data frame from df_list .

Within Functions

The assign() function can be particularly useful when used within other functions. For instance, you might want to write a function that creates new variables based on its input:

In this example, create_var() is a function that takes a variable name and a value, and it creates a new variable with that name and value in the global environment. This demonstrates how assign() can be used to modify the global environment from within a function.

Precautions

While assign() can be handy, it’s important to use it carefully and sparingly. Because it allows the creation of variables with dynamic names, it can make code harder to debug and understand, as the variables in your environment can change unexpectedly. In most cases, standard assignment ( <- or = ) or working with lists or data frames will be clearer and more straightforward.

The assign() function in R is a powerful tool for creating and assigning variables, especially when you need to create variables with dynamic names or from within functions. However, because of its power and flexibility, it should be used with care and only when necessary to keep your code easy to understand and debug.

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How to Apply the assign() Function in R (Example Code)

In this article you’ll learn how to apply the assign function() in the R programming language.

Example: Basic Application of assign() Function in R

assign(x = "new_variable", # Specifying variable name value = letters[1:10]) # Values to be stored in variable

new_variable # Returning output # [1] "a" "b" "c" "d" "e" "f" "g" "h" "i" "j"

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Assignment & evaluation.

The first operator you’ll run into is the assignment operator. The assignment operator is used to assign a value. For instance we can assign the value 3 to the variable x using the <- assignment operator. We can then evaluate the variable by simply typing x at the command line which will return the value of x . Note that prior to the value returned you’ll see ## [1] in the command line. This simply implies that the output returned is the first output. Note that you can type any comments in your code by preceding the comment with the hashtag ( # ) symbol. Any values, symbols, and texts following # will not be evaluated.

Interestingly, R actually allows for five assignment operators:

The original assignment operator in R was <- and has continued to be the preferred among R users. The = assignment operator was added in 2001 primarily because it is the accepted assignment operator in many other languages and beginners to R coming from other languages were so prone to use it. However, R uses = to associate function arguments with values (i.e. f(x = 3) explicitly means to call function f and set the argument x to 3. Consequently, most R programmers prefer to keep = reserved for argument association and use <- for assignment.

The operators <<- is normally only used in functions which we will not get into the details. And the rightward assignment operators perform the same as their leftward counterparts, they just assign the value in an opposite direction.

Overwhelmed yet? Don’t be. This is just meant to show you that there are options and you will likely come across them sooner or later. My suggestion is to stick with the tried and true <- operator. This is the most conventional assignment operator used and is what you will find in all the base R source code…which means it should be good enough for you.

Lastly, note that R is a case sensitive programming language. Meaning all variables, functions, and objects must be called by their exact spelling:

What is the assign() function in R?

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The assign() function in R is simply used to assign a value to a name in an environment.

Required parameter values

The assign() function takes the following mandatory parameter values:

• x : This represents the variable name that is given as a character string.
• value : This is the value to be assigned to the x variable.

Optional parameter values

The assign() function takes the following optional parameter values:

• pos : This represents where to do the assignment. By default, it is done in the current environment.
• envir : This represents the environment.
• inherits : This is used in case the enclosing frames of the environment need to be inspected or not.
• immediate : This is an ignored compatibility feature.

Code example

Code explanation.

• Line 2 : We use the assign() function to assign the value "Theo" to the variable name x .
• Line 6 : We use the assign() function to assign the value 42 to the variable x , which is already the same as Theo in the environment.
• Line 7 : We print the variable Theo .

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class: Object Classes

Description.

R possesses a simple generic function mechanism which can be used for an object-oriented style of programming. Method dispatch takes place based on the class of the first argument to the generic function.

oldClass(x) oldClass(x) <- value

a character vector naming classes. value can also be NULL .

logical affecting return value: see ‘Details’.

Formal classes

An additional mechanism of formal classes, nicknamed “S4”, is available in package methods which is attached by default. For objects which have a formal class, its name is returned by class as a character vector of length one and method dispatch can happen on several arguments, instead of only the first. However, S3 method selection attempts to treat objects from an S4 class as if they had the appropriate S3 class attribute, as does inherits . Therefore, S3 methods can be defined for S4 classes. See the ‘ Introduction ’ and ‘ Methods_for_S3 ’ help pages for basic information on S4 methods and for the relation between these and S3 methods.

The replacement version of the function sets the class to the value provided. For classes that have a formal definition, directly replacing the class this way is strongly deprecated. The expression as (object, value) is the way to coerce an object to a particular class.

The analogue of inherits for formal classes is is . The two functions behave consistently with one exception: S4 classes can have conditional inheritance, with an explicit test. In this case, is will test the condition, but inherits ignores all conditional superclasses.

Here, we describe the so called “S3” classes (and methods). For “S4” classes (and methods), see ‘Formal classes’ below.

Many R objects have a class attribute, a character vector giving the names of the classes from which the object inherits . (Functions oldClass and oldClass<- get and set the attribute, which can also be done directly.)

If the object does not have a class attribute, it has an implicit class, notably "matrix" , "array" , "function" or "numeric" or the result of typeof (x) (which is similar to mode (x) ), but for type "language" and mode "call" , where the following extra classes exist for the corresponding function call s: if , while , for , = , <- , ( , { , call .

Note that NULL objects cannot have attributes (hence not classes) and attempting to assign a class is an error.

When a generic function fun is applied to an object with class attribute c("first", "second") , the system searches for a function called fun.first and, if it finds it, applies it to the object. If no such function is found, a function called fun.second is tried. If no class name produces a suitable function, the function fun.default is used (if it exists). If there is no class attribute, the implicit class is tried, then the default method.

The function class prints the vector of names of classes an object inherits from. Correspondingly, class<- sets the classes an object inherits from. Assigning NULL removes the class attribute.

unclass returns (a copy of) its argument with its class attribute removed. (It is not allowed for objects which cannot be copied, namely environments and external pointers.)

inherits indicates whether its first argument inherits from any of the classes specified in the what argument. If which is TRUE then an integer vector of the same length as what is returned. Each element indicates the position in the class(x) matched by the element of what ; zero indicates no match. If which is FALSE then TRUE is returned by inherits if any of the names in what match with any class .

All but inherits are primitive functions.

UseMethod , NextMethod , ‘ group generic ’, ‘ internal generic ’

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Some 60% keyboards also use the FN key to make up for the loss of the arrow key block – that’s the standard set of arrow keys that nobody has used for gaming since Doom and Quake mapped them to aim control, plus Insert, Home, Delete, etc. The layout of these keys generally varies depending on the manufacturer. For instance, the Alloy Origins 60 puts the Delete key on FN+Backspace, which makes sense logically. You’ll also find the arrow keys laid out roughly in their usual shape right next to the FN key, on Ctrl, Alt, Context menu, and /?.

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