You can use the following basic syntax to split a vector into chunks in R:
chunks 4, labels=FALSE))
This particular example splits the vector called my_vector into 4 equally sized chunks.
To split the vector into a different number of chunks, simply change the 4 to a different value.
The following example shows how to use this syntax in practice.
Example: Splitting a Vector into Chunks in R
Suppose we have the following vector in R that contains 12 total elements:
#create vector
my_vector #view length of vector
length(my_vector)
[1] 12
We can use the following syntax to split the vector into four chunks:
#split vector into four chunks chunks 4, labels=FALSE)) #view chunks chunks $`1` [1] 2 2 4 $`2` [1] 7 6 8 $`3` [1] 9 8 8 $`4` [1] 12 5 4
From the output we can see:
- The first chunk contains the values 2, 2, 4.
- The second chunk contains the values 7, 6, 8.
- The third chunk contains the values 9, 8, 8.
- The fourth chunk contains the values 12, 5, 4.
Note that we can also use brackets to access a specific chunk:
#access second chunk only
chunks[2]
$`2`
[1] 7 6 8
If we change the value within the split() function, we can split the vector into a different number of chunks.
For example, we could split the vector into six chunks instead:
#split vector into six chunks chunks 6, labels=FALSE)) #view chunks chunks $`1` [1] 2 2 $`2` [1] 4 7 $`3` [1] 6 8 $`4` [1] 9 $`5` [1] 8 8 $`6` [1] 12 5
Notice that there are now six chunks and each chunk contains two elements.
Note: If your vector doesn’t contain an even number of elements, this method will still split the vector into as equally-sized groups as possible.
Additional Resources
The following tutorials explain how to perform other common tasks in R:
How to Filter a Vector in R
How to Remove NA Values from Vector in R
How to Remove Specific Elements from Vector in R