You can use one of the following methods to remove multiple rows from a data frame in R:
Method 1: Remove Specific Rows
#remove rows 2, 3, and 4
new_df <- df[-c(2, 3, 4), ]
Method 2: Remove Range of Rows
#remove rows 2 through 5
new_df <- df[-c(2:5), ]
Method 3: Remove Last N Rows
#remove rows 4 through last row new_df <- df[-c(4:nrow(df)), ]
The following examples show how to use each of these methods in practice with the following data frame:
#create data frame df <- data.frame(team=c('A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F'), points=c(99, 90, 86, 88, 95, 99), assists=c(33, 28, 31, 39, 34, 24)) #view data frame df team points assists 1 A 99 33 2 B 90 28 3 C 86 31 4 D 88 39 5 E 95 34 6 F 99 24
Example 1: Remove Specific Rows
The following code shows how to remove rows 2, 3, and 4 from the data frame:
#define new data frame with rows 2, 3, 4 removed
new_df <- df[-c(2, 3, 4),]
#view new data frame
new_df
team points assists
1 A 99 33
5 E 95 34
6 F 99 24
Notice that rows 2, 3, and 4 have all been removed from the data frame.
Example 2: Remove Range of Rows
The following code shows how to remove rows in the range of 2 through 5:
#define new data frame with rows 2 through 5 removed
new_df <- df[-c(2:5),]
#view new data frame
new_df
team points assists
1 A 99 33
6 F 99 24
Notice that rows 2, 3, 4, and 5 have been removed.
Example 3: Remove Last N Rows
The following code shows how to remove rows 4 through the last row:
#remove rows 4 through last row
new_df <- df[-c(4:nrow(df)), ]
#view new data frame
new_df
team points assists
1 A 99 33
2 B 90 28
3 C 86 31
Notice that row 4 and all rows after it have been removed.
Additional Resources
The following tutorials explain how to perform other common operations in R:
How to Remove Duplicate Rows in R
How to Count Number of Rows in R
How to Remove Rows with Some or All NAs in R