How to extract the split string elements in R?

To split string vector elements, we can use strsplit function. And if we want to extract the string elements after splitting then double and single square brackets will be used. The double square bracket will extract the string vector element and the single square will extract the element after splitting. Check out the examples to understand how it works.

Example1

Live Demo

> x1<-c("Tutorialspoint is an E-learning platform","E-learning is important","It helps in learning and growing at a faster rate")
> x1

Output

[1] "Tutorialspoint is an E-learning platform"
[2] "E-learning is important"
[3] "It helps in learning and growing at a faster rate"

Example

> x1<-strsplit(x1," ")
> x1

Output

[[1]]
[1] "Tutorialspoint" "is" "an" "E-learning"
[5] "platform"

[[2]]
[1] "E-learning" "is" "important"

[[3]]
[1] "It" "helps" "in" "learning" "and" "growing"
[7] "at" "a" "faster" "rate"

Example

> x1[[1]][1]
[1] "Tutorialspoint"
> x1[[1]][4]
[1] "E-learning"
> x1[[2]][1]
[1] "E-learning"
> x1[[3]][1]
[1] "It"
> x1[[3]][4]
[1] "learning"
> x1[[3]][8]
[1] "a"

Example2

Live Demo

> x2<-c("The purpose of our lives is to be happy","Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations","Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye","Life is beautiful","God is the greatest","Don't let yesterday take up too much today","Clarity is very important","Satisfaction defines the success","My life is my message","The best is yet to come","Life is a journey not a race","Life is short and the world is wide","Time is free but it's priceless","Your dream does not have an expiration date")
> x2

Output

[1] "The purpose of our lives is to be happy"
[2] "Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations"
[3] "Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye"
[4] "Life is beautiful"
[5] "God is the greatest"
[6] "Don't let yesterday take up too much today"
[7] "Clarity is very important"
[8] "Satisfaction defines the success"
[9] "My life is my message"
[10] "The best is yet to come"
[11] "Life is a journey not a race"
[12] "Life is short and the world is wide"
[13] "Time is free but it's priceless"
[14] "Your dream does not have an expiration date"

Example

> x2<-strsplit(x2," ")
> x2

Output

[[1]]
[1] "The" "purpose" "of" "our" "lives" "is" "to"
[8] "be" "happy"

[[2]]
[1] "Difficult" "roads" "often" "lead" "to"
[6] "beautiful" "destinations"

[[3]]
[1] "Sometimes" "the" "heart" "sees" "what" "is"
[7] "invisible" "to" "the" "eye"

[[4]]
[1] "Life" "is" "beautiful"

[[5]]
[1] "God" "is" "the" "greatest"

[[6]]
[1] "Don't" "let" "yesterday" "take" "up" "too"
[7] "much" "today"

[[7]]
[1] "Clarity" "is" "very" "important"

[[8]]
[1] "Satisfaction" "defines" "the" "success"

[[9]]
[1] "My" "life" "is" "my" "message"

[[10]]
[1] "The" "best" "is" "yet" "to" "come"

[[11]]
[1] "Life" "is" "a" "journey" "not" "a" "race"

[[12]]
[1] "Life" "is" "short" "and" "the" "world" "is" "wide"

[[13]]
[1] "Time" "is" "free" "but" "it's" "priceless"

[[14]]
[1] "Your" "dream" "does" "not" "have"
[6] "an" "expiration" "date"

Example

> x2[[1]][1]
> x2[[1]][2]
> x2[[3]][1]
> x2[[10]][2]
> x2[[12]][1]
> x2[[10]][1]
> x2[[14]][2]

Output

[1] "The"
[1] "purpose"
[1] "Sometimes"
[1] "best"
[1] "Life"
[1] "The"
[1] "dream"

Nizamuddin Siddiqui

Updated on: 04-Mar-2021

2K+ Views

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