Variables in R

Unlike Java or C#, R enables total flexibility in the assignment of variables. This means that you can assign objects of different types to the same variable. This will cause overriding:

var1 <- 10
var1 <- "a string"

In this case, for instance, R will not throw an error for var1. In addition, there is no need to pre-declare the class of the variable.

The assignment of variables in R can be done in the following three ways:

• <- or ->: These arrows assign the corresponding value to a variable. However, the first alternative is more common:

  var1 <- 10
  10 -> var1
  

• =: This is similar to <- or ->.

  Tip

  As in most programming languages, it is important to keep in mind that whenever a comparison is needed, == must be used.

• assign(): This is a function with the name of the variable as its first parameter and the value as its second:

  > assign("var1",6)
  

For conventional variable assignments, there is no need to use this function. However, it becomes particularly useful...