In R, a list is a collection of ordered and changeable data.
To create a list object in R, we use the list() function.
The list() function takes the items that we want to arrange into a list as its parameter value.
Now, let’s create a list with the help of the list() function:
# list containing numerical valuesnumbers_list <- list("1, 2, 3, 4, 5")# list containing string valuesfruits_list <- list("oranges", "bananas", "pears")# printing our listsnumbers_listfruits_list
Line 2: We create a list called numbers_list, which contains numerical values as its items.
Line 5: We create another list called fruits_list, which contains strings as its items.
Lines 8–9: We print our lists.
Interestingly, we can find out if a given element is present in a list we created. To do this, we use the %in% operator.
The %in% operator returns True if the specified element is present in the list. Otherwise, it returns False.
Now, let’s demonstrate this with code:
# creating a listmy_fruits_list <- list("oranges", "bananas", "pears")# is oranges in the list? True"oranges" %in% my_fruits_list# is apples in the list? False"apple" %in% my_fruits_list
Line 2: We create a list called my_fruits_list.
Line 5: We check if the item or string "oranges" is present in the my_fruits_list list, using the %in% operator, .
Line 8: We check if the item or string "apple" is present in the my_fruits_list list, using the %in% operator.