Character variables default to factor in R

Asked Aug 26 '20 at 21:35

Active Aug 27 '20 at 01:33

Viewed 46 times

All the sources indicate that the character variables name and gender in this data frame from startSalary.csv are to be categorized as factors.

name    salary  gender    
Anne    75000   F    
David   70000   M    
Cindy   55000   F    
Mark    65000   M    
Patrick 64000   M

When I read it as follows:

df1 <- read.csv("startSalary.csv")
str(df1)

data.frame':    5 obs. of  3 variables:
$ name  : chr  "Anne" "David" "Cindy" "Mark" ...
$ salary: int  75000 70000 55000 65000 64000
$ gender: chr  "F" "M" "F" "M" ...

R categorizes these variables as characters, not the default categorization as factor. I know I could read the data as

df2 <- read.csv("startSalary.csv",stringsAsFactors = TRUE)

for R to categorize them as factors. Why my R codes are not categorizing them as factors, which is the default? I have not used any options() function. Have I done a global change in defaults without knowing about it?

Thanks.

edited Aug 27 '20 at 01:33

nniloc

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asked Aug 26 '20 at 21:35

Faruk Guder

1

The default changed with `R 4.0.0`. Now, stringsAsFactors = FALSE by default – akrun Aug 26 '20 at 21:36
Add this line at the begin of your code `options(stringsAsFactors = T)` – Duck Aug 26 '20 at 21:36
1

Thank you. This information "The default changed with R 4.0.0. Now, stringsAsFactors = FALSE by default" explains the reason. – Faruk Guder Aug 26 '20 at 21:45

Character variables default to factor in R

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