R Append Single or Multiple Rows to Data Frame

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To append a single row or multiple rows to the R data frame use either rbin(), add_row() from the tidyverse package, or rows_insert() from the dplyr package. In this article, I will use these methods to explain appending rows to the existing data frame.

1. Quick Example of Appending Rows to Data Frame

Below are some examples of appending rows to a data frame. 


#append row to end of data frame 
#using rbind()
vecRow <- c(15, 'Kumar')
df1 <- rbind(df1,vecRow)

#using nrow()
df1[nrow(df1) + 1,] = vecRow

#using tidyverse to add row
library(tidyverse)
df1 <- df1 %>% add_row(id='20',
                       name='Ann',
                       .before=2)

library(dplyr)
df2 = data.frame(id = '25', name = 'Lyn')
df2 <- df1 %>% 
  rows_insert(df2)

Let’s create an R DataFrame, run these examples, and explore the output. If you already have data in CSV you can easily import CSV files to R DataFrame. Also, refer to Import Excel File into R.


# Create DataFrame
df1 <- data.frame(id = c(10,11),
                  name = c('sai','ram'))
df1

Yields below output.

r append rows

2. Using rbin() to Append Rows to R Data Frame

Use the rbin() function from the R base package to append rows to the data frame in R. This function appends all rows at the end of the data frame and returns the result in a new data frame. This function requires the data frame and the row you are appending to have the same columns.

In the below example, I have assigned the result to the data frame df1 object.


#append row to end of data frame 
#using rbind()
vecRow <- c(15, 'Kumar')
df1 <- rbind(df1,vecRow)
df1

Yields below output.

r append multiple rows

Alternatively, you can also use the nrow() function. This approach updates the data frame with the row you inserted.

# Append row to end of data frame # using nrow() df1[nrow(df1) + 1,] = vecRow df1

3. Using tidyverse Package to Append Rows

The add_row() function from the tidyverse package can be used to append rows to an R data frame. This function enables you to add a row at a specific index. The example below shows how to insert a row at the second position.

To use this, you have to the install package tidyverse first using install.packages('tidyverse') and load it using library(tidyverse).


# Using tidyverse to add row
library(tidyverse)
df1 <- df1 %>% add_row(id='20',
                       name='Ann',
                       .before=2)
df1

4. Using dplyr Package to Append Rows

Finally, let’s use the rows_insert() function from the dplyr package to append a row to the R data frame. In order to use this, you have to install package dplyr first using install.packages('dplyr') and load it using library(dplyr). In the below example, %>% is a pipe or infix operator.


# Using dplyr
library(dplyr)
df2 = data.frame(id = '25', name = 'Lyn')
df2 <- df1 %>% 
  rows_insert(df2)
df2

5. Append Multiple Rows to Data Frame

By using the approaches explained above you can also append multiple rows to the R data frame. Below is an example.


# Create DataFrame
df1 <- data.frame(id = c(10,11),
                  name = c('sai','ram'))
df1

# Create DataFrame
df2 <- data.frame(id = c(16,17),
                  name = c('Don','Lin'))

df2

#Append multiple rows to the data frame
#using rbind()
df3 <- rbind(df1,df2)
df3

For other approaches refer to append data frames in R, here I have covered several examples of appending data frames into a single data frame.

6. Conclusion

In this article, you have learned how to append single row and multiple rows to the R data frame by using rbin() function from the R base package, add_row() from the tidyverse package, and rows_insert() from the dplyr package.

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