You can use the following methods to convert a data frame column to a list in R:
Method 1: Convert One Column to List
my_list <- list(df$my_column)
Method 2: Convert All Columns to Lists
all_lists <- as.list(df)
The following examples show how to use each method in practice with the following data frame in R:
#create data frame df <- data.frame(team=c('A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E'), points=c(99, 90, 86, 88, 95), assists=c(33, 28, 31, 39, 34), rebounds=c(30, 28, 24, 24, 28)) #view data frame df team points assists rebounds 1 A 99 33 30 2 B 90 28 28 3 C 86 31 24 4 D 88 39 24 5 E 95 34 28
Example 1: Convert One Data Frame Column to List in R
We can use the following code to convert the points column in the data frame to a list:
#convert points column to list points_list <- list(df$points) #view list points_list [[1]] [1] 99 90 86 88 95
The new variable called points_list represents the points column in the data frame as a list.
We can use the class() function to confirm that points_list is indeed a list:
#display class of points_list
class(points_list)
[1] "list"
Example 2: Convert All Data Frame Columns to Lists in R
We can use the following code to convert each column in the data frame to a list:
#convert all columns to lists all_columns_list <- as.list(df) #view lists all_columns_list $team [1] "A" "B" "C" "D" "E" $points [1] 99 90 86 88 95 $assists [1] 33 28 31 39 34 $rebounds [1] 30 28 24 24 28
We can also use brackets [ ] to extract a specific column as a list:
#view first column as list all_columns_list[1] $team [1] "A" "B" "C" "D" "E"
The output displays the first column in the data frame (“team”) as a list.
Additional Resources
The following tutorials explain how to perform other common tasks in R:
How to Convert Matrix to Data Frame in R
How to Convert Tibble to Data Frame in R
How to Convert Data Frame to Time Series in R
