Data Types in R

The variable in the R language has a data type. All data types in R programming need some memory and have some operations that can be performed over it. We have the following data types in R programming:

data types in R
Data Types in R
1. Numeric data type in R

The decimal values in the R language are called numeric. It is used as a default data types in R for numbers. If we assign a decimal value to a variable, it will be of numeric data type.

2. Integer data type in R

The set of all integers is called integer data types in the R language. We can create a new integer as well as covert a value into integer data type in R language.  

3. Logical data type in R

The Boolean value is either true or false is known as a logical data type in R language. The logical data type is created using a comparison operator between variables.

4. Complex data type in R

All complex numbers are called complex data types in the R language. An imaginary part is used to store numbers in complex data types.

5. Character data type in R

To store all alphabets and special characters we used character data type in R. It stores characters or strings (alphabets, symbols, and numbers). The best way to show that a value is a character data type in R is to wrap the value inside the double or single quote.

Following are some tasks that can be performed using data types in R programming:

Finding object data type in R

We used the class() function in the R language to check the data type of an object. We passed the object as an argument to the class() function for checking its data type.

Syntax:

A simple R program to find the data type of an object:

# Logical Data Type
print(class(TRUE))
  
# Integer Data Type
print(class(3L))
  
# Numeric Data Type
print(class(5.5))
  
# Complex Data Type
print(class(4+2i))
  
# Character Data Type
print(class("06-09-2021"))

Output:

dt1 2

Verifying the data type in R

We can verify the data type of an object in R programming using the “is” prefix before the data type as a command.

Syntax:

A simple R program to verify if an object is of a certain datatype:

# Logical
print(is.logical(TRUE))
  
# Integer
print(is.integer(3L))
  
# Numeric
print(is.numeric(5.5))
  
# Complex
print(is.complex(4+2i))
  
# Character
print(is.character("06-09-2021"))
  
print(is.integer("a"))
  
print(is.numeric(5+3i))

Output:

dt2 1

Data type conversion in R

We can convert the data type of any object in R language using the as.data_type() function. We convert the data type of an object in R programming using the “as” prefix before the data type as a command.   

Syntax:

A simple R program to convert the data type of an object to another:

# Logical
print(as.numeric(TRUE))
  
# Integer
print(as.complex(3L))
  
# Numeric
print(as.logical(5.5))
  
# Complex
print(as.character(4+2i))
  
# Can't possible
print(as.numeric("06-09-2021"))

Output:

dt3