You can use the R base df[] notation or select() function from the dplyr package to select a single column or select multiple columns by index position(column number) from the R data frame. In this article, I will explain different examples including selecting columns by index from the list, between two-column indexes, etc.
1. Quick Examples of Selecting Columns by Index Position
Below are quick examples of selecting columns by index position (column number) in R. Other examples on select columns refer to select columns from the R data frame.
# Quick Examples
# R base - select column by index position
df[,2]
# R base - Select columns by index position
df[,c(2,3)]
# R base - Select columns by range
df[,2:2]
# Load dplyr
library('dplyr')
# Select column by index position
df %>% select(2,3)
# dplyr - Select columns by list of index or position
df %>% select(c(2,3))
# Select columns by index range
df %>% select(2:3)
Let’s create an R data frame,
# Create DataFrame
df <- data.frame(
id = c(10,11),
name = c('sai','ram'),
gender = c('M','M'),
dob = as.Date(c('1990-10-02','1981-3-24')),
state = c('CA','NY'),
row.names=c('r1','r2')
)
df
Yields below output.
# Output
id name gender dob state
r1 10 sai M 1990-10-02 CA
r2 11 ram M 1981-03-24 NY
2. Select Columns by Index Position using R Base
By using the R base bracket notation df[] you can select columns by index position (column number) from the R data frame. The df[] notation takes syntax df[rows,columns], so when using this notation to select columns by index use the columns parameter on the right after the comma.
Similarly, you can also use this notation to select columns by index position in R. All you need to pass is the column index to this df[]. The following example returns values from the 2nd column of the data frame.
Note that in R, the index starts from 1.
# R base - select column by index position
df[,2]
# Output
#[1] "sai" "ram"
3. Select Columns by Multiple or List of Index using R Base
The following example returns all data frame columns from the list of index values. Provide the list of values using the vector.
# R base - Select columns by index position
df[,c(2,3)]
# Output
# name gender
#r1 sai M
#r2 ram M
4. Get Columns by Index Range Using R Base
If you want to select columns between two indexes use the range operator(:). The left-hand side of the operator is the starting column index and the right-hand side would be the end column index. The following examples select all columns between 2 and 5 indexes.
# R base - Select columns by range
df[,2:5]
# Output
# name gen dob state
# r1 sai M 1990-10-02 CA
# r2 ram M 1981-03-24 NY
5. Select Columns by Index Position using dplyr Package
Most of the R syntax takes $ to refer to the column name along with the data frame object (df$id) and uses [] notation, this syntax is not easy to read, and sometimes R code becomes confusing. dplyr select() function is used to select the columns or variables by index from the data frame by using English verbs. This takes the first argument as the data frame and the second argument as the column name or vector of column names.
Let’s select columns by index position using dplyr Package, the first example from the following selects the specified columns by indexes that are supplied to select() function with a comma separator. The second example selects all columns from the list.
# Load dplyr
library('dplyr')
# Select column by index position
df %>% select(2,3,5)
# Output
# name gender state
#r1 sai M CA
#r2 ram M NY
When we use dplyr package, we mostly use the Infix operator %>% from magrittr, it passes the left-hand side of the operator to the first argument of the right-hand side of the operator. For example, x %>% f(y) converted into f(x, y). For more examples of this package refer to the R dplyr package tutorial with examples.
6. Get Columns by List of Indexes
The following examples return a data frame by selecting columns from the list of indexes. In the below example c() is used to create a vector.
# dplyr - Select columns by list of index or position
df %>% select(c(2,3))
# Output
# name gender
# r1 sai M
# r2 ram M
7. Get Columns by Index Range
If you want to select columns between two indexes use the range operator(:). The left-hand side of the operator is the starting column index and the right-hand side would be the end column index. The following examples select all columns between 2 and 4 indexes.
# Select columns by index range
df %>% select(2:4)
# Output
# name gender dob
# r1 sai M 1990-10-02
# r2 ram M 1981-03-24
8. Conclusion
In this article, you have learned how to select columns by their index in R. You can use the R base df[] or the select() function from the dplyr package to select either a single column or multiple columns by their index position(column number) from a data frame in R.
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