How to convert factor column to original values

Question

I have an integer column that has factor applied to it:

col <- factor(list("3", "4", "3", "3"), labels = c("a", "b"), levels = c(3, 4))

If I convert that column to integer, I get:

> as.integer(col)
[1] 1 2 1 1

While I want to get original list of 3 and 4.

How can I achieve this?

We had almost exactly the same question here [earlier today](http://stackoverflow.com/q/36836789/4770166) — RHertel, Apr 25 '16 at 17:53

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 25 '16 at 17:53

The original values, 3 and 4, are permanently lost in your current code. The easiest way to keep them around is to use them as your labels.

col <- factor(list("3", "4", "3", "3"), labels = c("3", "4"), levels = c(3, 4))

Another way would be to store the mapping prior to factor conversion.

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