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:
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.
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In addition, you could have a look at some of the other articles on my homepage.
- Replace NA with 0 (10 Examples for Data Frame, Vector & Column)
- Replace Particular Value in Data Frame
- R Programming Overview
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.
I’m Joachim Schork. On this website, I provide statistics tutorials as well as code in Python and R programming.
6 Comments. Leave new
Hi again, looks like some of my text in the previous comment was deleted, I paste here my comment again:
How would you apply, two replace cases, in a column based on rows from another column? For example, giving the next data frame
data <- data.frame(x1 = c(1, 2, 3, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 3, 2),
x2 = c(4, 36, 45, 22, 36, 1, 11, 12, 31, 22))
x1 x2
#1 1 4
#2 2 36
#3 3 45
#4 2 22
#5 3 36
#6 1 1
#7 2 11
#8 3 12
#9 3 31
#10 2 22
I want to apply 2 conditions:
If X1 = 1 then replace its corresponding value in X2 by YES
If X1 = 2 then replace its corresponding value in X2 by NO
Leave all the other values unchanged, keep the original values in X2
How would you replace multiple cases without repeating the "replace" function? I wanted to use case_when for this but I did not find a solution. I used the mutate option then, but it replace the values I wanted to leave untouched by blanks
data %
mutate(x2 = case_when(
x1 %in% 1 ~ “YES”,
x1 %in% 2 ~ “NO”))
And what I obtained:
x1 x2
#1 1 YES
#2 2 NO
#3 3
#4 2 NO
#5 3
#6 1 YES
#7 2 NO
#8 3
#9 3
#10 2 NO
Thank you in advance
Hey Sandra,
I’m sorry for the late response, I just got back from vacation. Do you still need an answer to this question?
Regards,
Joachim
How could I replace those values WITHOUT creating a new data frame?
Hey George,
Please try the following R code:
Regards,
Joachim
How could I replace several values in one column?
Hey Alexey,
Please have a look at this tutorial, it explains your question.
Regards,
Joachim