3
Subsetting
R’s subsetting operators are powerful and fast. Mastery of subsetting allows you to succinctly express complex operations in a way that few other languages can match. Subsetting is hard to learn because you need to master a number of interrelated concepts:
- The three subsetting operators.
- The six types of subsetting.
- Important differences in behaviour for different objects (e.g., vectors, lists, factors, matrices, and data frames).
- The use of subsetting in conjunction with assignment.
This chapter helps you master subsetting by starting with the simplest type of subsetting: subsetting an atomic vector with [. It then gradually extends your knowledge, first to more complicated data types (like arrays and lists), and then to the other ...
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