R Arrays

Arrays

Compared to matrices, arrays can have more than two dimensions.

We can use the array() function to create an array, and the dim parameter to specify the dimensions:

Example

# An array with one dimension with values ranging from 1 to 24
thisarray <- c(1:24)
thisarray

# An array with more than one dimension
multiarray <- array(thisarray, dim = c(4, 3, 2))
multiarray

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Example Explained

In the example above we create an array with the values 1 to 24.

How does dim=c(4,3,2) work?
The first and second number in the bracket specifies the amount of rows and columns.
The last number in the bracket specifies how many dimensions we want.

Note: Arrays can only have one data type.

Access Array Items

You can access the array elements by referring to the index position. You can use the [] brackets to access the desired elements from an array:

Example

thisarray <- c(1:24)
multiarray <- array(thisarray, dim = c(4, 3, 2))

multiarray[2, 3, 2]

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The syntax is as follow: array[row position, column position, matrix level]

You can also access the whole row or column from a matrix in an array, by using the c() function:

Example

thisarray <- c(1:24)

# Access all the items from the first row from matrix one
multiarray <- array(thisarray, dim = c(4, 3, 2))
multiarray[c(1),,1]

# Access all the items from the first column from matrix one
multiarray <- array(thisarray, dim = c(4, 3, 2))
multiarray[,c(1),1]

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A comma (,) before c() means that we want to access the column.

A comma (,) after c() means that we want to access the row.

Check if an Item Exists

To find out if a specified item is present in an array, use the %in% operator:

Example

Check if the value "2" is present in the array:

thisarray <- c(1:24)
multiarray <- array(thisarray, dim = c(4, 3, 2))

2 %in% multiarray

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Amount of Rows and Columns

Use the dim() function to find the amount of rows and columns in an array:

Example

thisarray <- c(1:24)
multiarray <- array(thisarray, dim = c(4, 3, 2))

dim(multiarray)

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Array Length

Use the length() function to find the dimension of an array:

Example

thisarray <- c(1:24)
multiarray <- array(thisarray, dim = c(4, 3, 2))

length(multiarray)

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Loop Through an Array

You can loop through the array items by using a for loop:

Example

thisarray <- c(1:24)
multiarray <- array(thisarray, dim = c(4, 3, 2))

for(x in multiarray){
print(x)
}

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