The Art of R Programming

Chapter 4. Lists

In contrast to a vector, in which all elements must be of the same mode, R’s list structure can combine objects of different types. For those familiar with Python, an R list is similar to a Python dictionary or, for that matter, a Perl hash. C programmers may find it similar to a C struct. The list plays a central role in R, forming the basis for data frames, object-oriented programming, and so on.

In this chapter, we’ll cover how to create lists and how to work with them. As with vectors and matrices, one common operation with lists is indexing. List indexing is similar to vector and matrix indexing but with some major differences. ...