How to split each column into its own data frame?

Question

I have a data frame with 3 columns, for example:

my.data <- data.frame(A=c(1:5), B=c(6:10), C=c(11:15))

I would like to split each column into its own data frame (so I'd end up with a list containing three data frames). I tried to use the "split" function but I don't know what I would set as the factor argument. I tried this:

data.split <- split(my.data, my.data[,1:3])

but that's definitely wrong and just gives me a bunch of empty data frames. It sounds fairly simple but after searching through previous questions I haven't come across a way to do this.

`lapply(my.data, data.frame)`, then adjust names accordingly — bouncyball, Mar 13 '18 at 20:24
More info on Sotos' answer: [What is the algorithm behind R core's `split` function?](https://stackoverflow.com/q/52158589/4891738) — Zheyuan Li, Sep 04 '18 at 13:15

Maurits Evers · Answer 1 · 2018-03-13T20:29:35.083

2

Not sure why you'd want to do that; lapply let's you already operate on the columns directly; but you could do

lst <- split(t(my.data), 1:3);
names(lst) <- names(my.data);
lst;
#$A
#[1] 1 2 3 4 5
#
#$B
#[1]  6  7  8  9 10
#
#$C
#[1] 11 12 13 14 15

Turn vector entries into data.frames with

lapply(lst, as.data.frame);

edited Mar 13 '18 at 20:29

answered Mar 13 '18 at 20:24

Maurits Evers

49,617
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score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 13 '18 at 20:29

2

You can use split.default, i.e.

split.default(my.data, seq_along(my.data))


$`1`
  A
1 1
2 2
3 3
4 4
5 5

$`2`
   B
1  6
2  7
3  8
4  9
5 10

$`3`
   C
1 11
2 12
3 13
4 14
5 15

answered Mar 13 '18 at 20:29

Sotos

51,121
6
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How to split each column into its own data frame?

2 Answers2