What does c do in R? [duplicate]

Question

Consider the code below:

k <- c(.5, 1)

What does c do here? I think it must be a list or vector. If it is, how can I extend this vector to contain 1024 values?

Answer 1

In R, the c() function returns a vector (a one dimensional array).

In your example:

k <- c(0.5, 1) # k is a vector
k[1] # is 0.5 (remember, R indices start on 1)
k[2] # is 1

If you want to create a vector with 1024 entries (assuming 0.5 increments), you have at least two ways to do it:

# One way
k <- (1:1024) / 2 # this will be 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, ... , 512
# Another way:
k <- seq(0.5, 512, 0.5)

Also you can use c() to concatenate two vectors:

k <- c(0.5, 1)         # k = 0.5, 1
k <- c(k, 1.5)         # k = 0.5, 1, 1.5
k <- c(k, c(2, 2.5))   # k = 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5
k <- c(k, k)           # k = 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5

Please check the help for c() and seq function (in R: ?c and ?seq)

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Reference:

• Quick-R: Data types