How to Convert a Factor to Numeric in R
Basic R Syntax:
x_num <- as.numeric(as.character(x))
More explanations needed? You’ll find all relevant information for the conversion of R factors to numeric in the following tutorial.
Example: Convert Factor to Numeric in R
To convert a factor to numeric in R can be a tricky task. In the following, I’m therefore going to explain how to convert a factor vector to numeric properly without a loss of information.
Before we can start, we need to create an example factor vector in R:
set.seed(13579) # Set seed x <- as.factor(sample(c(3, 5, 6, 9), 100, replace = TRUE)) # Example factor vector
Our factor vector consists of the four categories 3, 5, 6 & 9:
x # Print x to RStudio console
Graphic 1: Example Factor Vector Printed to the RStudio Console
So, how can we transform this factor vector to numeric?
x_num <- as.numeric(as.character(x)) # Convert factor to numeric x_num # Print converted x to RStudio console # 3 9 3 9 5 5 3 9 9 3 9 9 9...
That’s it! Easy, right?
However, please note that – before the conversion to numeric – it is important to transform the factor to character first (as shown in the example above).
I’ll show you why this preliminary step is needed:
x_wrong <- as.numeric(x) # Wrong conversion to numeric x_wrong # Print wrongly converted x to RStudio console # 1 4 1 4 2 2 1 4 4 1 4 4 4...
1? 4?! 22??? What happened?! Why does the converted vector consist of wrong values?
The answer is simple: R automatically assigns the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on to the categories of our factor. If we want to hinder R from doing so, we need to convert the factor to character first.
Keep this in mind, when you convert a factor vector to numeric! I’ve seen this mistake quite often in the past.
Programming Video: Further Examples
Check out the following video, in case you need further explanations and examples for the transformation of factors to numerical vectors. I demonstrate the code of this tutorial in the video:
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Would you like to learn more about data type conversion in R? Then, you might also have a look at the following video that I have published on my YouTube channel.
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Alternative Programming Codes
I’ve shown you the most popular way to convert factor to numeric in R. However, there are several alternative ways to achieve this transformation:
Alternative 1: The levels R function
x_alt1 <- as.numeric(levels(x)[x]) # Use the levels R function x_alt1 # Print to R console
Alternative 2: The paste R function
x_alt2 <- as.numeric(paste(x)) # Use the paste R function x_alt2 # Print to R console
Alternative 3: The unfactor R function of the varhandle package
install.packages("varhandle") # Install varhandle package library("varhandle") # Load varhandle package x_alt3 <- unfactor(x) # Use the unfactor R function x_alt3 # Print to R console
Further Reading
- Convert Factor to Character
- Convert Character to Numeric in R
- Convert a Data Frame Column to Numeric
- type.convert R Function
- The R Programming Language
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