R Data Types

Let's discuss some basic data types in R.

Numerics

Decimal (floating point values) are part of the numeric class in R

In [1]:
n <- 2.2

Integers

Natural (whole) numbers are known as integers and are also part of the numeric class

In [3]:
i <- 5

Logical

Boolean values (True and False) are part of the logical class. In R these are written in All Caps.

In [5]:
t <- TRUE
f <- FALSE
In [6]:
t
Out[6]:
TRUE
In [7]:
f
Out[7]:
FALSE

Characters

Text/string values are known as characters in R. You use quotation marks to create a text character string:

In [8]:
char <- "Hello World!"
In [15]:
char
Out[15]:
'Hello World!'
In [16]:
# Also single quotes
c <- 'Single Quote Char'
In [17]:
c
Out[17]:
'Single Quote Char'

Checking Data Type Classes

You can use the class() function to check the data type of a variable:

In [10]:
class(t)
Out[10]:
'logical'
In [11]:
class(f)
Out[11]:
'logical'
In [18]:
class(char)
Out[18]:
'character'
In [19]:
class(c)
Out[19]:
'character'
In [13]:
class(n)
Out[13]:
'numeric'
In [14]:
class(i)
Out[14]:
'numeric'

Those are some of the basic data types in R. Next we will learn about one of the main data building blocks of R, the vector!