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To add an empty column to a data frame in R, you can use the add_column() function from the tidyverse library. This function allows you to add a column to a data frame with a given name and a default value, such as NA for an empty column. This is a useful way to add additional columns to a data frame in order to store additional information. Additionally, you can use the mutate() function from the same library to assign values to the empty column.
You can use the following basic syntax to add one or more empty columns to a data frame in R:
#add one empty column called 'column1' to data frame df[ , 'column1'] <- NA #add several empty columns to data frame empty_cols <- c('column1', 'column2', 'column3') df[ , empty_cols] <- NA
The following examples show how to use this syntax in practice.
Example 1: Add One Empty Column to Data Frame
The following code shows how to add one empty column to a data frame in R:
#create data frame
df <- data.frame(team=c('Mavs', 'Mavs', 'Spurs', 'Nets'),
points=c(99, 90, 84, 96),
assists=c(22, 19, 16, 20))
#view data frame
df
team points assists
1 Mavs 99 22
2 Mavs 90 19
3 Spurs 84 16
4 Nets 96 20
#add new empty column
df[ , 'blocks'] <- NA
#view updated data frame
df
team points assists blocks
1 Mavs 99 22 NA
2 Mavs 90 19 NA
3 Spurs 84 16 NA
4 Nets 96 20 NA
Example 2: Add Multiple Empty Columns to Data Frame
The following code shows how to add multiple empty columns to a data frame in R:
#create data frame
df <- data.frame(team=c('Mavs', 'Mavs', 'Spurs', 'Nets'),
points=c(99, 90, 84, 96),
assists=c(22, 19, 16, 20))
#view data frame
df
team points assists
1 Mavs 99 22
2 Mavs 90 19
3 Spurs 84 16
4 Nets 96 20
#define names of empty columns to add
empty_cols <- c('blocks', 'rebounds', 'steals')
#add multiple empty columns
df[ , empty_cols] <- NA
#view updated data frame
df
team points assists blocks rebounds steals
1 Mavs 99 22 NA NA NA
2 Mavs 90 19 NA NA NA
3 Spurs 84 16 NA NA NA
4 Nets 96 20 NA NA NA
The following tutorials explain how to create other empty objects in R: