R: Select Rows Where Value Appears in Any Column

You can use the following basic syntax to find the rows of a data frame in R in which a certain value appears in any of the columns:

library(dplyr)

df %>% filter_all(any_vars(. %in% c('value1', 'value2', ...)))

The following examples show how to use this syntax in practice.

Example 1: Find Value in Any Column

Suppose we have the following data frame in R:

#define data frame
df = data.frame(points=c(25, 12, 15, 14, 19),
                assists=c(5, 7, 7, 9, 12),
                rebounds=c(11, 8, 10, 6, 6))

#view data frame
df

  points assists rebounds
1     25       5       11
2     12       7        8
3     15       7       10
4     14       9        6
5     19      12        6

The following syntax shows how to select all rows of the data frame that contain the value 25 in any of the columns:

library(dplyr)

#select rows where 25 appears in any column
df %>% filter_all(any_vars(. %in% c(25)))

  points assists rebounds
1     25       5       11

There is exactly one row where the value 25 appears in any column.

The following syntax shows how to select all rows of the data frame that contain the values 25, 9, or 6 in any of the columns:

library(dplyr)

#select rows where 25, 9, or 6 appears in any column
df %>% filter_all(any_vars(. %in% c(25, 9, 6)))

  points assists rebounds
1     25       5       11
2     14       9        6
3     19      12        6

Example 2: Find Character in Any Column

Suppose we have the following data frame in R:

#define data frame
df = data.frame(points=c(25, 12, 15, 14, 19),
                assists=c(5, 7, 7, 9, 12),
                position=c('G', 'G', 'F', 'F', 'C'))

#view data frame
df

  points assists position
1     25       5        G
2     12       7        G
3     15       7        F
4     14       9        F
5     19      12        C

The following syntax shows how to select all rows of the data frame that contain the character G in any of the columns:

library(dplyr)

df %>% filter_all(any_vars(. %in% c('G')))

  points assists position
1     25       5        G
2     12       7        G

There are two rows where the character ‘G’ appears in any column.

The following syntax shows how to select all rows of the data frame that contain the values G or C in any of the columns:

library(dplyr)

df %>% filter_all(any_vars(. %in% c('G', 'C')))

  points assists position
1     25       5        G
2     12       7        G
3     19      12        C

Additional Resources

The following tutorials explain how to perform other common functions in R:

How to Replace Values in Data Frame in R
How to Sum Columns Based on a Condition in R
How to Remove Rows from Data Frame in R Based on Condition