Using the apply family of functions
Programming in R can sometimes seem a bit tricky; indeed, most of us first use R in a very non-programmatic way at the console, invoking commands but not often using flow control or process logic to make dynamic decisions. The control flow and loop structures that it has initially seem a bit basic and underpowered. Many R functions are vectorized (i.e., they operate on collections); the language takes advantage of this by providing features ensuring we don’t need to take the low-level approach we may have learned in Python and other places.
Base R provides the apply() functions to assist with common looping tasks. These functions allow you to apply a specified function to elements of an object, such as a matrix, list, or array. apply() applies a function to either rows, columns, or both of a matrix or array. The result is a simplified vector, matrix, or array. lapply() applies a function to each element of a list and returns a list of results...
