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The scan() function in R is a useful tool for reading data from external sources, such as files or databases, and converting it into a format that can be used for analysis. It allows for the user to specify the type of data to be read and the structure of the input, making it a versatile function for various data formats. For example, if a user wants to read a text file containing numerical data, they can specify the type as numeric and the structure as a vector. This function can be used in conjunction with other R functions to manipulate and analyze the data. An example of using the scan() function would be reading a CSV file with customer sales data and converting it into a data frame for further analysis. Overall, the scan() function provides a convenient and efficient way to import and process external data in R.
Use the scan() Function in R (With Example)
You can use the scan() function in R to read data from a file into a vector or list.
This function uses the following basic syntax:
scan(file = “”, what = double(), …)
where:
- file: The name of the file to read the data from.
- what: The type of data to be read.
Refer to the R for a complete list of additional arguments you can use with the scan() function.
The following example shows how to use the scan() function in practice.
Example: How to Use scan() Function in R
Suppose I have a CSV file called data.csv saved in the following location:
C:UsersBobDesktopdata.csv
And suppose the CSV file contains the following data:
team, points, assists 'A', 78, 12 'B', 85, 20 'C', 93, 23 'D', 90, 8 'E', 91, 14
You can use the scan() function with the following code to quickly read the data from this file into R:
#read in data.csv into list data <- scan("C:UsersBobDesktopdata.csv", what = list("", "", "")) #view data data [[1]] [1] "team" "A" "B" "C" "D" "E" [[2]] [1] "points" "78" "85" "93" "90" "91" [[3]] [1] "assists" "12" "20" "23" "8" "14"
The scan() function has successfully read the data from the file into a list.
We can verify that this object is a list by using the class() function:
#view class of data object class(data) [1] "list"
Additional Resources
The following tutorials explain how to import other file types into R: