Named List in R Programming
Last Updated :
22 Jun, 2020
A list is an object in R Language which consists of heterogeneous elements. A list can even contain matrices, data frames, or functions as its elements. The list can be created using list() function in R. Named list is also created with the same function by specifying the names of the elements to access them. Named list can also be created using names() function to specify the names of elements after defining the list. In this article, we’ll learn to create named list in R using two different methods and different operations that can be performed on named lists.
Syntax: names(x) <- value
Parameters:
x: represents an R object
value: represents names that has to be given to elements of x object
Creating a Named List
A Named list can be created by two methods. The first one is by allocating the names to the elements while defining the list and another method is by using names() function.
Example 1:
In this example, we are going to create a named list without using names() function.
x <- list(mt = matrix(1:6, nrow = 2),
lt = letters[1:8],
n = c(1:10))
cat("Whole List:\n")
print(x)
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Output:
Whole List:
$mt
[,1] [,2] [,3]
[1,] 1 3 5
[2,] 2 4 6
$lt
[1] "a" "b" "c" "d" "e" "f" "g" "h"
$n
[1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Example 2:
In this example, we are going to define the names of elements of the list using names() function after defining the list.
x <- list(matrix(1:6, nrow = 2),
letters[1:8],
c(1:10))
cat("Whole list:\n")
print(x)
|
Output:
Whole list:
[[1]]
[,1] [,2] [,3]
[1,] 1 3 5
[2,] 2 4 6
[[2]]
[1] "a" "b" "c" "d" "e" "f" "g" "h"
[[3]]
[1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Accessing components of Named List
Components of a named list can be easily accessed by $ operator.
Example:
x <- list(mt = matrix(1:6, nrow = 2),
lt = letters[1:8],
n = c(1:10))
cat("Element named 'mt':\n")
print(x$mt)
cat("\n")
cat("Element named 'n':\n")
print(x$n)
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Output:
Element named 'mt':
[,1] [,2] [,3]
[1,] 1 3 5
[2,] 2 4 6
Element named 'n':
[1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Modifying components of Named List
Components of named list can be modified by assigning new values to them.
Example:
lt <- list(a = 1,
let = letters[1:8],
mt = matrix(1:6, nrow = 2))
cat("List before modifying:\n")
print(lt)
lt$a <- 5
cat("List after modifying:\n")
print(lt)
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Output:
List before modifying:
$a
[1] 1
$let
[1] "a" "b" "c" "d" "e" "f" "g" "h"
$mt
[,1] [,2] [,3]
[1,] 1 3 5
[2,] 2 4 6
List after modifying:
$a
[1] 5
$let
[1] "a" "b" "c" "d" "e" "f" "g" "h"
$mt
[,1] [,2] [,3]
[1,] 1 3 5
[2,] 2 4 6
Deleting components from Named List
To delete elements from named list, we’ll use within() function and the result will be assigned to the named list itself.
Example:
lt <- list(a = 1,
let = letters[1:8],
mt = matrix(1:6, nrow = 2))
cat("List before deleting:\n")
print(lt)
lt <- within(lt, rm(a))
cat("List after deleting:\n")
print(lt)
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Output:
List before deleting:
$a
[1] 1
$let
[1] "a" "b" "c" "d" "e" "f" "g" "h"
$mt
[,1] [,2] [,3]
[1,] 1 3 5
[2,] 2 4 6
List after deleting:
$let
[1] "a" "b" "c" "d" "e" "f" "g" "h"
$mt
[,1] [,2] [,3]
[1,] 1 3 5
[2,] 2 4 6
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