Extract Just Number from Named Numeric Vector in R (3 Examples)

In this tutorial, I’ll illustrate how to remove the names from a named vector or array in the R programming language.

Table of contents:

So now the part you have been waiting for – the tutorial:

Constructing Example Data

We’ll use the following data as basement for this R tutorial:

x <- 1:5                       # Create named vector
names(x) <- letters[1:5]
x                              # Print named vector
# a b c d e 
# 1 2 3 4 5

As you can see based on the previous output of the RStudio console, our example data object is a named vector with five elements.

Example 1: Remove Names from Numeric Vector Using unname Function

The following syntax shows how to extract only the numeric values from our vector.

x_new1 <- unname(x)            # Apply unname
x_new1                         # Return updated vector
# 1 2 3 4 5

As you can see based on the previous output, we stored the numeric values without their names in the new data object x_new1.

Example 2: Remove Names from Numeric Vector Using as.numeric Function

The following R programming code illustrates how to delete names from a numeric vector object using the as.numeric function in R.

x_new2 <- as.numeric(x)        # Apply as.numeric
x_new2                         # Return updated vector
# 1 2 3 4 5

The output is the same as in Example 1.

Example 3: Remove Names from Numeric Vector Using names Function

The following R code shows how to extract just the numbers from a named vector by applying the names command.

x_new3 <- x                    # Replicate vector
names(x_new3) <- NULL          # Apply names
x_new3                         # Return updated vector
# 1 2 3 4 5

Again, the output is the same as in the previous examples.

Video, Further Resources & Summary

Do you want to learn more about the handling of named data objects? Then you may watch the following video that I have published on my YouTube channel. I’m explaining the R codes of this page in the video.

Furthermore, you might want to have a look at some of the related articles on my homepage.

• How to Rename a Column Name in R
• setNames vs. setnames Functions in R
• The R Programming Language

This post explained how to delete names from a named vector in the R programming language. Don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments section, in case you have additional questions and/or comments.