Select first 4 rows of a data.frame in R

Question

Use head:

dnow <- data.frame(x=rnorm(100), y=runif(100))
head(dnow,4) ## default is 6

Using the index:

df[1:4,]

Where the values in the parentheses can be interpreted as either logical, numeric, or character (matching the respective names):

df[row.index, column.index]

Read help(`[`) for more detail on this subject, and also read about index matrices in the Introduction to R.

In case someone is interested in dplyr solution, it's very intuitive:

dt <- dt %>%
  slice(1:4)

If you have less than 4 rows, you can use the head function ( head(data, 4) or head(data, n=4)) and it works like a charm. But, assume we have the following dataset with 15 rows

>data <- data <- read.csv("./data.csv", sep = ";", header=TRUE)

>data
 LungCap Age Height Smoke Gender Caesarean
1    6.475   6   62.1    no   male        no
2   10.125  18   74.7   yes female        no
3    9.550  16   69.7    no female       yes
4   11.125  14   71.0    no   male        no
5    4.800   5   56.9    no   male        no
6    6.225  11   58.7    no female        no
7    4.950   8   63.3    no   male       yes
8    7.325  11   70.4    no  male         no
9    8.875  15   70.5    no   male        no
10   6.800  11   59.2    no   male        no
11   6.900  12   59.3    no   male        no
12   6.100  13   59.4    no   male        no
13   6.110  14   59.5    no   male        no
14   6.120  15   59.6    no   male        no
15   6.130  16   59.7    no   male        no

Let's say, you want to select the first 10 rows. The easiest way to do it would be data[1:10, ].

> data[1:10,]
   LungCap Age Height Smoke Gender Caesarean
1    6.475   6   62.1    no   male        no
2   10.125  18   74.7   yes female        no
3    9.550  16   69.7    no female       yes
4   11.125  14   71.0    no   male        no
5    4.800   5   56.9    no   male        no
6    6.225  11   58.7    no female        no
7    4.950   8   63.3    no   male       yes
8    7.325  11   70.4    no  male         no
9    8.875  15   70.5    no   male        no
10   6.800  11   59.2    no   male        no

However, let's say you try to retrieve the first 19 rows and see the what happens - you will have missing values

> data[1:19,]
     LungCap Age Height Smoke Gender Caesarean
1      6.475   6   62.1    no   male        no
2     10.125  18   74.7   yes female        no
3      9.550  16   69.7    no female       yes
4     11.125  14   71.0    no   male        no
5      4.800   5   56.9    no   male        no
6      6.225  11   58.7    no female        no
7      4.950   8   63.3    no   male       yes
8      7.325  11   70.4    no  male         no
9      8.875  15   70.5    no   male        no
10     6.800  11   59.2    no   male        no
11     6.900  12   59.3    no   male        no
12     6.100  13   59.4    no   male        no
13     6.110  14   59.5    no   male        no
14     6.120  15   59.6    no   male        no
15     6.130  16   59.7    no   male        no
NA        NA  NA     NA  <NA>   <NA>      <NA>
NA.1      NA  NA     NA  <NA>   <NA>      <NA>
NA.2      NA  NA     NA  <NA>   <NA>      <NA>
NA.3      NA  NA     NA  <NA>   <NA>      <NA>

and with the head() function,

> head(data, 19) # or head(data, n=19)
   LungCap Age Height Smoke Gender Caesarean
1    6.475   6   62.1    no   male        no
2   10.125  18   74.7   yes female        no
3    9.550  16   69.7    no female       yes
4   11.125  14   71.0    no   male        no
5    4.800   5   56.9    no   male        no
6    6.225  11   58.7    no female        no
7    4.950   8   63.3    no   male       yes
8    7.325  11   70.4    no  male         no
9    8.875  15   70.5    no   male        no
10   6.800  11   59.2    no   male        no
11   6.900  12   59.3    no   male        no
12   6.100  13   59.4    no   male        no
13   6.110  14   59.5    no   male        no
14   6.120  15   59.6    no   male        no
15   6.130  16   59.7    no   male        no

Hope this help!

For at DataFrame one can simply type

head(data, num=10L)

to get the first 10 for example.

For a data.frame one can simply type

head(data, 10)

to get the first 10.