There are two methods you can use to rename factor levels in R:
Method 1: Use levels() from Base R
levels(df$col_name) <- c('new_name1', 'new_name2', 'new_name3')Method 2: Use recode() from dplyr package
library(dplyr)
data$col_name <- recode(data$col_name, name1 = 'new_name1',
name2 = 'new_name2',
name3 = 'new_name3')The following examples show how to use each of these methods in practice.
Method 1: Use levels() Function
Suppose we have the following data frame in R:
#create data frame df <- data.frame(conf = factor(c('North', 'East', 'South', 'West')), points = c(34, 55, 41, 28)) #view data frame df conf points 1 North 34 2 East 55 3 South 41 4 West 28 #view levels of 'conf' variable levels(df$conf) [1] "East" "North" "South" "West"
The following code shows how to rename one factor level by name using the levels() function:
#rename just 'North' factor level levels(df$conf)[levels(df$conf)=='North'] <- 'N' #view levels of 'conf' variable levels(df$conf) [1] "East" "N" "South" "West"
And the following code shows how to rename every factor level:
#rename every factor level levels(df$conf) <- c('N', 'E', 'S', 'W') #view levels of 'conf' variable levels(df$conf) [1] "N" "E" "S" "W"
Example 2: Use recode() Function
The following code shows how to use the recode() function from the dplyr package to rename factor levels:
library(dplyr) #create data frame df <- data.frame(conf = factor(c('North', 'East', 'South', 'West')), points = c(34, 55, 41, 28)) #recode factor levels df$conf <- recode(df$conf, North = 'N', East = 'E', South = 'S', West = 'W') levels(df$conf) [1] "E" "N" "S" "W"
Note: You can find the complete documentation for the recode() function .