Numeric value for string values

Question

How could I change string values to any numeric value, as long as each unique string has a unique numeric return.

for example INTcntry gets a value 1 for 2708BG, 2 for 2703BG... However I don't want to assign it manually, because I have 9000 somewhat different string values.

     idno       INTcntry
4039 3857         2708BG
4040 3858         2708BG
4041 3862         2704BG
4042 3863         2704BG
4043 3864         2704BG
4044 3865         2704BG
4045 3867         2704BG
4046 3868         2704BG
4047 3871         2703BG
4048 3872         2703BG
4199  161         1011CH
4201  163         1011CH

csgillespie · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-14 11:55:56Z

2

I suspect that INTcntry is a factor,

is.factor(dd$INTcntry)

in which case, just exploit that fact:

R> levels(dd$INTcntry)
[1] "1011CH" "2703BG" "2704BG" "2708BG"
R> labels(dd$INTcntry)
[1] "1" "2" "3" "4" "5" "6" "7" "8"

so just convert the labels to numeric values:

as.numeric(labels(dd$INTcntry))

or

as.numeric(dd$INTcntry)

If INTcntry isn't a factor, then just use:

factor(dd$INTcntry)

answered Mar 14, 2013 at 11:55

csgillespie

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Comments

juba · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-14 11:56:16Z

1

One way is to convert your variable to a factor and then use as.numeric :

as.numeric(factor(df$INTcntry))

answered Mar 14, 2013 at 11:56

juba

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2 Comments

Roland Over a year ago

Of course, the question then is, why you need the numeric and cannot just work with the factor.

SarahDew Over a year ago

That is true, I want to use this data within another program and just wanted to make sure it can read the values properly. But maybe it can read the string values just as good. Will try.

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