How to convert a text vector into a matrix in R?

Sometimes numerical values are being read as strings and hence creating a matrix using that vector is not straight forward.

For the conversion of text vector into a matrix, we need to use scan function and specify the appropriate number of rows or columns as shown in the below given examples.

Example 1

Consider the below given vector x1 −

x1<-"14 25 26 1 4 5 5 4 5 111 255 236 225 225 221 74 5 8 74 85 65 24 12 36 41"

Now, to convert x1 into a matrix, use the code given below −

x1<-"14 25 26 1 4 5 5 4 5 111 255 236 225 225 221 74 5 8 74 85 65 24 12 36 41" x1_matrix<-matrix(scan(text=x1),nrow=5,byrow=TRUE) x1_matrix

Output

If you execute all the above given codes as a single program, it generates the following output −

     [,1][,2][,3][,4][,5] [1,] 14   25  26   1   4 [2,]  5    5   4   5 111 [3,] 255 236 225 225 221 [4,] 74    5   8  74  85 [5,] 65   24  12  36  41 Read 25 items

Example 2

Consider the below given vector x2 −

x2<-"54 5 4 3 6 7 8 6 5 4 3 2 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 9 9 3 4 5 6 6 7 7 3 2 1 2 3 4 55 6 7 8"

Now, to convert x2 into a matrix, use the following code −

x2<-"54 5 4 3 6 7 8 6 5 4 3 2 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 9 9 3 4 5 6 6 7 7 3 2 1 2 3 4 55 6 7 8" x2_matrix<-matrix(scan(text=x2),nrow=20,byrow=TRUE) x2_matrix

Output

If you execute all the above given codes as a single program, it generates the following output −

     [,1][,2] [1,]  54  5 [2,]   4  3 [3,]   6  7 [4,]   8  6 [5,]   5  4 [6,]   3  2 [7,]   1  3 [8,]   4  5 [9,]   6  7 [10,]  8  9 [11,]  0  9 [12,]  9  3 [13,]  4  5 [14,]  6  6 [15,]  7  7 [16,]  3  2 [17,]  1  2 [18,]  3  4 [19,] 55  6 [20,]  7  8 Read 40 items

Example 3

Consider the below given vector x3 −

x3<-"8 9 8 7 9 4 3 2 2 3 4 5 5 5 6 7 7 8 8 9 9 3 3 2 2 3 1 5 6 9 7 4 2 3 5 8 6 9 5 4 1 2 3 2 5 6 4 7 5 6 8 5 2 1 2 3 5 4 7 5"

Now, to convert x3 into a matrix, use the following code −

x3<-"8 9 8 7 9 4 3 2 2 3 4 5 5 5 6 7 7 8 8 9 9 3 3 2 2 3 1 5 6 9 7 4 2 3 5 8 6 9 5 4 1 2 3 2 5 6 4 7 5 6 8 5 2 1 2 3 5 4 7 5" x3_matrix<-matrix(scan(text=x3),nrow=20,byrow=TRUE) x3_matrix

Output

If you execute all the above given codes as a single program, it generates the following output −

    [,1][,2][,3] [1,]  8  9  8 [2,]  7  9  4 [3,]  3  2  2 [4,]  3  4  5 [5,]  5  5  6 [6,]  7  7  8 [7,]  8  9  9 [8,]  3  3  2 [9,]  2  3  1 [10,] 5  6  9 [11,] 7  4  2 [12,] 3  5  8 [13,] 6  9  5 [14,] 4  1  2 [15,] 3  2  5 [16,] 6  4  7 [17,] 5  6  8 [18,] 5  2  1 [19,] 2  3  5 [20,] 4  7  5 Read 60 items