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Say I have the following df
x<-c(1,3,2,4,1,3,2,4,1,3,2,4)
y<-c(rnorm(12))
df<-data.frame(x,y)
x is integer and I try to convert it to a factor using the suggestion from the R cookbook:
df[,'x']<-factor(df[,'x'])
But it still remains an integer. I have tried a solution found on the forum
df[,'x']<-lapply(df[,'x'], factor)
but it did not work either. Thanks.
367
Converting Numeric value to a Factor For converting a numeric into factor we use cut() function. cut() divides the range of numeric vector(assume x) which is to be converted by cutting into intervals and codes its value (x) according to which interval they fall.
To convert the data type of all columns from integer to factor, we can use lapply function with factor function.
In R, you can convert multiple numeric variables to factor using lapply function. The lapply function is a part of apply family of functions. They perform multiple iterations (loops) in R. In R, categorical variables need to be set as factor variables.
The main difference is that factors have predefined levels. Thus their value can only be one of those levels or NA. Whereas characters can be anything.
It seems that your original solution works. Check the typeof() as well as the class():
x<-c(1,3,2,4,1,3,2,4,1,3,2,4)
y<-c(rnorm(12))
df<-data.frame(x,y)
typeof(df$x)
#"double"
class(df$x)
#"numeric"
df[,'x']<-factor(df[,'x'])
typeof(df$x)
#"integer"
class(df$x)
#"factor"
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