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Selection of data frame elements

Similar to vectors and matrices, you select elements from a data frame with the help of square brackets [ ]. By using a comma, you can indicate what to select from the rows and the columns respectively. For example:

  • my_df[1,2] selects the value at the first row and second column in my_df.
  • my_df[1:3,2:4] selects rows 1, 2, 3 and columns 2, 3, 4 in my_df.

Sometimes you want to select all elements of a row or column. For example, my_df[1, ] selects all elements of the first row. Let us now apply this technique on planets_df!

This is a part of the course

“Introduction to R”

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Exercise instructions

  • From planets_df, select the diameter of Mercury: this is the value at the first row and the third column. Simply print out the result.
  • From planets_df, select all data on Mars (the fourth row). Simply print out the result.

Hands-on interactive exercise

Have a go at this exercise by completing this sample code.

# The planets_df data frame from the previous exercise is pre-loaded

# Print out diameter of Mercury (row 1, column 3)


# Print out data for Mars (entire fourth row)
Edit and Run Code