What are R Data types?
R Data types are used in computer programming to specify the kind of data
that can be stored in a variable. For effective memory consumption and precise
computation, the right data type must be selected. Each R data type has its own
set of regulations and restrictions.
Numeric Data type in R
Decimal values are called numerics in R. It is the default R data type for
numbers in R. If you assign a decimal value to a variable x as follows, x will
be of numeric type. Real numbers with a decimal point are represented using
this data type in R. it uses a format for double-precision floating-point
numbers to represent numerical values.
A simple R program
# to illustrate Numeric data type
# Assign a decimal value to x
x = 5.6
# print the class name of variable
print(class(x))
# print the type of variable
print(typeof(x))
Output
[1] "numeric"
[1] "double"
Integer Data type in R
R supports integer data types which are the set of all integers. You can create as
well as convert a value into an integer type using the as.integer() function. You
can also use the capital ‘L’ notation as a suffix to denote that a particular value
is of the integer R data type.
R
# A simple R program
# to illustrate integer data type
# Create an integer value
x = as.integer(5)
# print the class name of x
print(class(x))
# print the type of x
print(typeof(x))
# Declare an integer by appending an L suffix.
y = 5L
# print the class name of y
print(class(y))
# print the type of y
print(typeof(y))
Output
[1] "integer"
[1] "integer"
[1] "integer"
[1] "integer"
Logical Data type in R
R has logical data types that take either a value of true or false. A logical value
is often created via a comparison between variables. Boolean values, which
have two possible values, are represented by this R data type: FALSE or TRUE
R
# A simple R program
# to illustrate logical data type
# Sample values
x=4
y=3
# Comparing two values
z=x>y
# print the logical value
print(z)
# print the class name of z
print(class(z))
# print the type of z
print(typeof(z))
Output
[1] TRUE
[1] "logical"
[1] "logical"
Complex Data type in R
R supports complex data types that are set of all the complex numbers. The
complex data type is to store numbers with an imaginary component.
R
# A simple R program
# to illustrate complex data type
# Assign a complex value to x
x = 4 + 3i
# print the class name of x
print(class(x))
# print the type of x
print(typeof(x))
Output
[1] "complex"
[1] "complex"
Character Data type in R
R supports character data types where you have all the alphabets and special
characters. It stores character values or strings. Strings in R can contain
alphabets, numbers, and symbols. The easiest way to denote that a value is of
character type in R data type is to wrap the value inside single or double
inverted commas.
R
# A simple R program
# to illustrate character data type
# Assign a character value to char
char = "Geeksforgeeks"
# print the class name of char
print(class(char))
# print the type of char
print(typeof(char))
Output
[1] "character"
[1] "character"
There are several tasks that can be done using R data types. Let’s understand
each task with its action and the syntax for doing the task along with an R code
to illustrate the task.
Raw data type in R
To save and work with data at the byte level in R, use the raw data type. By
displaying a series of unprocessed bytes, it enables low-level operations on
binary data. Here are some speculative data on R’s raw data types:
R
# Create a raw vector
x <- as.raw(c(0x1, 0x2, 0x3, 0x4, 0x5))
print(x)
Output:
[1] 01 02 03 04 05
Five elements make up this raw vector x, each of which represents a raw byte
value.
Find data type of an object in R
To find the data type of an object you have to use class() function. The syntax
for doing that is you need to pass the object as an argument to the
function class() to find the data type of an object.
Syntax
class(object)
Example
R
# A simple R program
# to find data type of an object
# Logical
print(class(TRUE))
# Integer
print(class(3L))
# Numeric
print(class(10.5))
# Complex
print(class(1+2i))
# Character
print(class("12-04-2020"))
Output
[1] "logical"
[1] "integer"
[1] "numeric"
[1] "complex"
[1] "character"
