R language list

A list is an R-language object that contains different types of elements, such as numbers, strings, vectors, and another list there. A list can also contain a matrix or function as its element. T he list was created using the list() function.

Create a list

The following is an example of creating a list of strings, numbers, vectors, and logical values

# Create a list containing strings, numbers, vectors and a logical values.
list_data <- list("Red", "Green", c(21,32,11), TRUE, 51.23, 119.1)
print(list_data)

When we execute the code above, it produces the following results -

[[1]]
[1] "Red"

[[2]]
[1] "Green"

[[3]]
[1] 21 32 11

[[4]]
[1] TRUE

[[5]]
[1] 51.23

[[6]]
[1] 119.1

Name the list element

List elements can give names, and you can use those names to access them.

# Create a list containing a vector, a matrix and a list.
list_data <- list(c("Jan","Feb","Mar"), matrix(c(3,9,5,1,-2,8), nrow = 2),
   list("green",12.3))

# Give names to the elements in the list.
names(list_data) <- c("1st Quarter", "A_Matrix", "A Inner list")

# Show the list.
print(list_data)

When we execute the code above, it produces the following results -

$`1st_Quarter`
[1] "Jan" "Feb" "Mar"

$A_Matrix
     [,1] [,2] [,3]
[1,]    3    5   -2
[2,]    9    1    8

$A_Inner_list
$A_Inner_list[[1]]
[1] "green"

$A_Inner_list[[2]]
[1] 12.3

Access list elements

The elements of the list can be accessed through the index of the elements in the list. I n the case of named lists, it can also be accessed by name.

Let's continue to use the list of examples above -

# Create a list containing a vector, a matrix and a list.
list_data <- list(c("Jan","Feb","Mar"), matrix(c(3,9,5,1,-2,8), nrow = 2),
   list("green",12.3))

# Give names to the elements in the list.
names(list_data) <- c("1st Quarter", "A_Matrix", "A Inner list")

# Access the first element of the list.
print(list_data[1])

# Access the thrid element. As it is also a list, all its elements will be printed.
print(list_data[3])

# Access the list element using the name of the element.
print(list_data$A_Matrix)

When we execute the code above, it produces the following results -

$`1st_Quarter`
[1] "Jan" "Feb" "Mar"

$A_Inner_list
$A_Inner_list[[1]]
[1] "green"

$A_Inner_list[[2]]
[1] 12.3

     [,1] [,2] [,3]
[1,]    3    5   -2
[2,]    9    1    8

Manipulating list elements

We can add, remove, and update list elements as shown below. W e can only add and remove elements at the end of the list. B ut we can update any element.

# Create a list containing a vector, a matrix and a list.
list_data <- list(c("Jan","Feb","Mar"), matrix(c(3,9,5,1,-2,8), nrow = 2),
   list("green",12.3))

# Give names to the elements in the list.
names(list_data) <- c("1st Quarter", "A_Matrix", "A Inner list")

# Add element at the end of the list.
list_data[4] <- "New element"
print(list_data[4])

# Remove the last element.
list_data[4] <- NULL

# Print the 4th Element.
print(list_data[4])

# Update the 3rd Element.
list_data[3] <- "updated element"
print(list_data[3])

When we execute the code above, it produces the following results -

[[1]]
[1] "New element"

$
NULL

$`A Inner list`
[1] "updated element"

Merge the list

By putting all the lists in one list() function, you can combine many lists into one list.

# Create two lists.
list1 <- list(1,2,3)
list2 <- list("Sun","Mon","Tue")

# Merge the two lists.
merged.list <- c(list1,list2)

# Print the merged list.
print(merged.list)

When we execute the code above, it produces the following results -

[[1]]
[1] 1

[[2]]
[1] 2

[[3]]
[1] 3

[[4]]
[1] "Sun"

[[5]]
[1] "Mon"

[[6]]
[1] "Tue"

Convert the list to a vector

Lists can be converted to vectors so that elements of vectors can be used for further operations. Y ou can apply all arithmetic operations to vectors after converting the list to vectors. T o do this conversion, we use the unlist() function. I t takes the list as input and generates vectors.

# Create lists.
list1 <- list(1:5)
print(list1)

list2 <-list(10:14)
print(list2)

# Convert the lists to vectors.
v1 <- unlist(list1)
v2 <- unlist(list2)

print(v1)
print(v2)

# Now add the vectors
result <- v1+v2
print(result)

When we execute the code above, it produces the following results -

[[1]]
[1] 1 2 3 4 5

[[1]]
[1] 10 11 12 13 14

[1] 1 2 3 4 5
[1] 10 11 12 13 14
[1] 11 13 15 17 19