{"id":77805,"date":"2020-03-31T16:53:01","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T11:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/?p=77805"},"modified":"2020-03-31T16:53:01","modified_gmt":"2020-03-31T11:23:01","slug":"r-string-manipulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/r-string-manipulation\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 String Manipulation Functions in R programming"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this blog of TechVidvan\u2019s R tutorial series, we will take a look at the string manipulation functions in R programming. String manipulation functions are the functions that allow creation and modification of strings<\/strong> in R.<\/p>\n

Using these functions, you can construct strings with definite patterns or even at random. You can change and modify them in any desired way.<\/p>\n

String Manipulation in R Programming<\/h2>\n

Here are a few of the string manipulation functions available in R\u2019s base packages. We are going to look at these functions in detail.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The nchar function<\/li>\n
  2. The toupper function<\/li>\n
  3. The tolower function<\/li>\n
  4. The substr function<\/li>\n
  5. The grep function<\/li>\n
  6. The paste function<\/li>\n
  7. The strsplit function<\/li>\n
  8. The sprintf function<\/li>\n
  9. The cat function<\/li>\n
  10. The sub function<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Let\u2019s take a look at all of the above functions one by one.<\/p>\n

    1. The nchar function<\/h3>\n

    The nchar()<\/code><\/strong> function takes a character vector as the input and returns a vector that contains the sizes<\/strong> of all the elements inside the character vector. Here the syntax for the nchar<\/code><\/strong> function.<\/p>\n

    Code:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    nchar(x, type = \u201dchar\u201d, allowNA = FALSE, keepNA = NA )<\/pre>\n
    Where x<\/code><\/strong> is a character vector,<\/p>\n
    type<\/code><\/strong> sets what type of data is stored inside the input vector, by default, its value is set to \u201cchar<\/code><\/strong>\u201d,<\/p>\n
    allowNA<\/code><\/strong> is a boolean that decides whether NA<\/code><\/strong> values should be returned for elements in the input vector that are invalid,<\/p>\n
    keepNA<\/code><\/strong> is a boolean that decides whether NA<\/code><\/strong> values should be returned when elements inside the input vector are NA<\/code><\/strong><\/p>\n
    Here is an example of the usage of the nchar<\/code><\/strong> function.<\/p>\n
    Code:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    string <- \"Hello My Name Is TechVidvan\"\nnchar(string)\nstrvec <- c(string,\"HI\", \"hey\", \"haHa\")\nnchar(strvec)<\/pre>\n
    Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    \"string<\/a><\/p>\n
    2. The toupper function<\/h3>\n
    The toupper()<\/code><\/strong> function, as the name suggests, turns the input character vector to upper case.<\/strong> The syntax of the toupper<\/code><\/strong> function is very simple.<\/p>\n
    Code:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    toupper(x)<\/pre>\n
    Where x<\/code><\/strong> is the input character vector.<\/p>\n
    Here is an example of the usage of the toupper<\/code><\/strong> function.<\/p>\n
    Code:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    toupper(string)\ntoupper(strvec)<\/pre>\n
    Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    \"string<\/a><\/p>\n
    3. The tolower function<\/h3>\n
    The tolower()<\/code><\/strong> function does the opposite of the toupper()<\/code><\/strong> function. It turns the input character vector to lowercase.<\/strong> The syntax of the tolower<\/code><\/strong> function is as follows.<\/p>\n
    Code:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    tolower(x)<\/pre>\n
    Where x<\/code><\/strong> is the input character vector.<\/p>\n
    Here is an example of the usage of the tolower<\/code><\/strong> function.<\/p>\n
    Code:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    tolower(string)\ntolower(strvec)<\/pre>\n
    Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    \"string<\/a><\/p>\n
    4. The substr() function<\/h3>\n
    The substr()<\/code><\/strong> function extracts and returns a part of a given input string. The function takes a string, a start integer, and a stop integer as input. It then extracts a part of the input string starting from the start point and ending at the endpoint. It then returns the extracted substring<\/strong>. The syntax of the substr<\/code><\/strong> function is as follows.<\/p>\n
    Code:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    substr(x, start, stop)<\/pre>\n
    Wherex<\/code><\/strong> is the input string,<\/p>\n
    start<\/code><\/strong> is the starting point of extraction,<\/p>\n
    and stop<\/code><\/strong> is the endpoint of extraction.<\/p>\n
    Here is an example of the usage of the substr<\/code><\/strong> function.<\/p>\n
    Code:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    substr(string, 5, 20)<\/pre>\n
    Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    \"string<\/a><\/p>\n
    5. The grep function<\/h3>\n
    The grep()<\/code><\/strong> function searches for a pattern<\/strong> inside a given string and returns the number of instances a match is found. The following is the syntax of the grep function.<\/p>\n
    Code:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    grep(pattern, x, ignore.case = FALSE, perl = FALSE, value = FALSE, fixed = FALSE, useBytes = FALSE, invert = FALSE)<\/pre>\n
    Where pattern<\/code><\/strong> is a regular expression<\/strong> which is used as a search keyword,<\/p>\n
    x<\/code><\/strong> is the input string,<\/p>\n
    ignore.case<\/code><\/strong> is a boolean which shows whether the search is to be case sensitive<\/strong> or not,<\/p>\n
    perl<\/code><\/strong> is a boolean which shows whether perl-compatible<\/strong> regex are to be used,<\/p>\n
    Value<\/code><\/strong> is a boolean which shows whether the output should contain the<\/p>\n
    position<\/strong> of the matches or their values<\/strong>,<\/p>\n
    fixed<\/code><\/strong> is a boolean that shows whether matching has to be exact<\/strong>,<\/p>\n
    useBytes<\/code><\/strong> is boolean that shows whether the matching is to be done byte-by-<\/strong><\/p>\n
    byte<\/strong> or character-by-character<\/strong>,<\/p>\n
    Invert<\/code><\/strong> is a boolean that show whether the output should contain matched values or the values that do not<\/strong> match.<\/p>\n
    Here is an example of the usage of the grep function:<\/p>\n
    Code:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    grep(\"Tech\", string)<\/pre>\n
    Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    \"string<\/a><\/p>\n
    6. The paste function<\/h3>\n
    The paste()<\/code><\/strong> function converts objects into characters and concatenates<\/strong> them. The syntax of the paste<\/code><\/strong> function is as follows.<\/p>\n
    Code:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    paste(. . . , sep = \u201c \u201d, collapse = NULL)<\/pre>\n
    Where . . .<\/code><\/strong> are the objects to be concatenated (after being converted into character vectors),<\/p>\n
    sep<\/code><\/strong> is a character string that acts as the separator between the concatenated terms,<\/p>\n
    And collapse<\/code><\/strong> is an optional character string that separates the results.<\/p>\n
    Here is an example of the usage of the paste function.<\/p>\n
    Code:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    paste(\"hello\", \"techvidvan\", string, sep = \"-\")<\/pre>\n
    Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    \"string<\/a><\/p>\n
    7. The strsplit function<\/h3>\n
    The strsplit()<\/code><\/strong> function splits the given input string into substrings<\/strong> according to the given split argument. Here is the syntax of the strsplit<\/code><\/strong> function.<\/p>\n
    Code:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    strsplit(x, split, fixed = FALSE, perl = FALSE, useBytes = FALSE)<\/pre>\n
    Where x<\/code><\/strong> is the input character string,<\/p>\n
    split<\/code><\/strong> is a regex according to which the input string is split,<\/p>\n
    fixed<\/code><\/strong> is a boolean that tells whether the matches have to be exact,<\/p>\n
    perl<\/code><\/strong> is a boolean that tells whether perl-compatible regexes have to be used,<\/p>\n
    useBytes<\/code><\/strong> is a boolean that tells whether the matching has to be done byte-by-byte or character-by-character.<\/p>\n
    Here is an example of the usage of the strsplit<\/code><\/strong> function:<\/p>\n
    Code:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    strsplit(string,'e')<\/pre>\n
    Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    \"string<\/a><\/p>\n
    8. The sprintf function<\/h3>\n
    The sprintf()<\/code><\/strong> function of R<\/a> is very similar to the variety of print functions in C\/C++. This function can print strings with variables<\/strong> in them. The function replaces the variable names with their values. The syntax of the sprintf<\/code><\/strong> function is:<\/p>\n
    Code:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    sprintf(fmt, . . . )<\/pre>\n
    Where fmt<\/code><\/strong> is a C style string format with appropriate characters to signify variables and their data types,<\/p>\n
    And . . .<\/code><\/strong> are the values and variable names to be passed to fmt<\/code><\/strong>.<\/p>\n
    Here is an example of the usage of the sprintf<\/code><\/strong> function.<\/p>\n
    Code:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    count <- 5L\nname <- \"Bob\"\nplace <- \"pocket\"\nsprintf(\"There are %d dollars in %s's %s\", count, name, place)<\/pre>\n
    Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    \"string<\/a><\/p>\n
    9. The cat function<\/h3>\n
    The cat()<\/code><\/strong> function combines all input objects into a single character vector. It can also create, edit or append a file to save the output. The syntax of the cat<\/code><\/strong> function looks like this.<\/p>\n
    Code:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    cat(. . . , file = \u201c\u201d, sep = \u201c\u201d, append = \u201cFALSE\u201d)<\/pre>\n
    Where,
    \n. . .<\/code><\/strong> is the set of objects, character vectors, or strings that will be combined into a single character vector.<\/p>\n
    file<\/code><\/strong> is an optional argument that specifies a file name to be created, appended or overwritten.<\/p>\n
    sep<\/code><\/strong> specifies the character that separates the objects in the . . .<\/code><\/strong> argument.<\/p>\n
    append controls whether the output should be appended or overwritten in the output file if a filename has been provided in the file argument<\/code><\/strong>.<\/p>\n
    Code:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    cat(\"hello\",\"this\",\"is\",\"Techvidvan\",sep = \"-\")<\/pre>\n
    Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    \"string<\/a><\/h3>\n
    10. The sub function<\/h3>\n
    The sub()<\/code><\/strong> function replaces the first occurrence of a substring in a string with another substring. The syntax of the sub function is very simple. It is as follows:<\/p>\n
    Code:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    sub(old, new, string)<\/pre>\n
    Where,<\/p>\n
    old<\/code><\/strong> is the old substring that has to be replaced,<\/p>\n
    new<\/code><\/strong> is the new substring that will take the place of the old substring.<\/p>\n
    string<\/code><\/strong> is the name of the string in which the substring has to be replaced.<\/p>\n
    Code:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    sub(\"My Name Is\", \"I Am\", string)<\/pre>\n
    Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    \"string<\/a><\/p>\n
    Summary<\/h2>\n
    R has a wide variety of functions that can manipulate any kind of data. Strings and character vectors are no exceptions. In this R tutorial, we learn about a few R functions that help manipulate strings or give more information about them.<\/p>\n
    Finding difficulty executing\u00a0 String Manipulation in R<\/p>\n
    Keep Executing!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    In this blog of TechVidvan\u2019s R tutorial series, we will take a look at the string manipulation functions in R programming. String manipulation functions are the functions that allow creation and modification of strings...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":77850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1020],"tags":[2175,2176,2177,2178,2179,2180],"class_list":["post-77805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-r","tag-manipulating-strings-in-r","tag-r-regular-expressions","tag-r-string-manipulation","tag-r-string-manipulation-functions","tag-string-manipulation-functions-in-r","tag-string-manipulation-in-r"],"yoast_head":"\nTop 10 String Manipulation Functions in R programming - TechVidvan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"String manipulation functions are the functions that allow creation and modification of strings in R. Take a look at the string manipulation functions in R programming.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/r-string-manipulation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Top 10 String Manipulation Functions in R programming - TechVidvan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"String manipulation functions are the functions that allow creation and modification of strings in R. Take a look at the string manipulation functions in R programming.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/r-string-manipulation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TechVidvan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TechVidvan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-31T11:23:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/top-10-string-manipulation-functions-in-R.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"802\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"420\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"TechVidvan Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@vidvantech\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@vidvantech\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"TechVidvan Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Top 10 String Manipulation Functions in R programming - TechVidvan","description":"String manipulation functions are the functions that allow creation and modification of strings in R. Take a look at the string manipulation functions in R programming.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/r-string-manipulation\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Top 10 String Manipulation Functions in R programming - TechVidvan","og_description":"String manipulation functions are the functions that allow creation and modification of strings in R. Take a look at the string manipulation functions in R programming.","og_url":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/r-string-manipulation\/","og_site_name":"TechVidvan","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TechVidvan\/","article_published_time":"2020-03-31T11:23:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":802,"height":420,"url":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/top-10-string-manipulation-functions-in-R.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"TechVidvan Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@vidvantech","twitter_site":"@vidvantech","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"TechVidvan Team","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/r-string-manipulation\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/r-string-manipulation\/"},"author":{"name":"TechVidvan Team","@id":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/#\/schema\/person\/e9c26e74dd3d87421f7ada9433b8cd22"},"headline":"Top 10 String Manipulation Functions in R programming","datePublished":"2020-03-31T11:23:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/r-string-manipulation\/"},"wordCount":1058,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/r-string-manipulation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/top-10-string-manipulation-functions-in-R.jpg","keywords":["manipulating strings in r","R Regular Expressions","R String Manipulation","R String Manipulation Functions","string manipulation functions in r","String Manipulation in R"],"articleSection":["R Tutorials"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/r-string-manipulation\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/r-string-manipulation\/","url":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/r-string-manipulation\/","name":"Top 10 String Manipulation Functions in R programming - TechVidvan","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/r-string-manipulation\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/r-string-manipulation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/top-10-string-manipulation-functions-in-R.jpg","datePublished":"2020-03-31T11:23:01+00:00","description":"String manipulation functions are the functions that allow creation and modification of strings in R. Take a look at the string manipulation functions in R programming.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/r-string-manipulation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/r-string-manipulation\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/r-string-manipulation\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/top-10-string-manipulation-functions-in-R.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/top-10-string-manipulation-functions-in-R.jpg","width":802,"height":420,"caption":"string manipulation functions in R"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/r-string-manipulation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Top 10 String Manipulation Functions in R programming"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/#website","url":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/","name":"TechVidvan Blogs","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/#organization","name":"TechVidvan","url":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/techvidvan-logo-200x50-1.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/techvidvan-logo-200x50-1.webp","width":200,"height":50,"caption":"TechVidvan"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TechVidvan\/","https:\/\/x.com\/vidvantech"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/#\/schema\/person\/e9c26e74dd3d87421f7ada9433b8cd22","name":"TechVidvan Team","description":"The TechVidvan Team delivers practical, beginner-friendly tutorials on programming, Java, Python, C++, DSA, AI, ML, data Science, Android, Flutter, MERN, Web Development, and technology. Our experts are here to help you upskill and excel in today\u2019s tech industry."}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}