Replace Value of Data Frame Variable Using dplyr Package in R (Example)

In this R post you’ll learn how to use the dplyr package to change particular values in a data frame column.

The table of content is structured as follows:

2) Example: Changing Certain Values in Variable Using mutate() & replace() Functions

Here’s how to do it!

Example Data & Packages

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

data <- data.frame(x1 = c(1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2),    # Create example data
                   x2 = "XX",
                   x3 = 66)
data                                               # Print example data
#   x1 x2 x3
# 1  1 XX 66
# 2  2 XX 66
# 3  3 XX 66
# 4  2 XX 66
# 5  1 XX 66
# 6  1 XX 66
# 7  2 XX 66

The previous output of the RStudio console shows the structure of our example data frame: It has seven rows and three columns.

In this R programming language tutorial, we’ll also have to install and load the dplyr package:

install.packages("dplyr")                          # Install dplyr package
library("dplyr")                                   # Load dplyr package

Now, we can use the functions of the dplyr package to modify specific values in our data frame.

Example: Changing Certain Values in Variable Using mutate() & replace() Functions

In this example, I’ll show how to replace particular values in a data frame variable by using the mutate and replace functions in R.

More precisely, the following R code replaces each 2 in the column x1:

data_new <- data %>%                               # Replacing values
  mutate(x1 = replace(x1, x1 == 2, 99))
data_new                                           # Print updated data
#   x1 x2 x3
# 1  1 XX 66
# 2 99 XX 66
# 3  3 XX 66
# 4 99 XX 66
# 5  1 XX 66
# 6  1 XX 66
# 7 99 XX 66

As you can see in the previous output of the RStudio console, each 2 in the variable x1 was replaced by the value 99.

Video & Further Resources

Do you need further information on the R code of this article? Then you may watch the following video of my YouTube channel. In the video, I’m explaining the R programming syntax of this page.

The YouTube video will be added soon.

In addition, you could have a look at some of the other articles on my homepage.

Summary: In this R tutorial you learned how to replace values using the dplyr package. Let me know in the comments section, if you have additional questions.