If you see my previous example, I have tried something like > df[,n3] <- I(mylist)
However, in my case, the name of the new column is in a variable (by user input) which can not be directly used by the dollar assign. On the other hand, "[<-" does not work correctly even if I wrap the list into "I()". Perhaps the title of my email is a little unclear, sorry for the case. Best, Marlin. On Sun, 2016-12-11 at 03:03 -0800, Bert Gunter wrote: > ?data.frame says: > > "If a list or data frame or matrix is passed to data.frame it is as > if > each component or column had been passed as a separate argument > (except for matrices of class "model.matrix" and those protected by > I). " > > So doing what Help says to do seems to do what you asked: > > > > df <- data.frame(a=1:3,b=letters[1:3]) > > df > > a b > 1 1 a > 2 2 b > 3 3 c > > ## add a list column, protected by "I()" > > df$new <- I(list(1:5,g = "foo", abb = matrix(runif(6),nr=3))) > > ## works as advertised > > df > > a b new > 1 1 a 1, 2, 3,.... > 2 2 b foo > 3 3 c 0.080349.... > > > df$new > > [[1]] > [1] 1 2 3 4 5 > > $g > [1] "foo" > > $abb > [,1] [,2] > [1,] 0.08034915 0.83671591 > [2,] 0.43938440 0.06067429 > [3,] 0.88196881 0.33461234 > > > Cheers, > Bert > > > Bert Gunter > > "The trouble with having an open mind is that people keep coming > along > and sticking things into it." > -- Opus (aka Berkeley Breathed in his "Bloom County" comic strip ) > > > On Sat, Dec 10, 2016 at 7:18 PM, Marlin JL.M <marl...@gmx.cn> wrote: > > Dear all, > > > > I want to assign a list to one column of data.frame where the name > > of the column > > is a variable. I tried the following: > > > > Using R version 3.3.2 > > > > > df <- iris[1:3, ] > > > df > > > > # Sepal.Length Sepal.Width Petal.Length Petal.Width Species > > # 1 5.1 3.5 1.4 0.2 setosa > > # 2 4.9 3.0 1.4 0.2 setosa > > # 3 4.7 3.2 1.3 0.2 setosa > > > > > mylist <- list(c(1,2,3),c(1),c()) > > > mylist > > > > # [[1]] > > # [1] 1 2 3 > > # > > # [[2]] > > # [1] 1 > > # > > # [[3]] > > # NULL > > > > > n1 <- 'new1' > > > df$n1 <- mylist > > > n2 <- 'new2' > > > df[,n2] <- mylist > > > > # Warning message: > > # In `[<-.data.frame`(`*tmp*`, , "new4", value = list(c(1, 2, > > 3), : > > # provided 3 variables to replace 1 variables > > > > > n3 <- 'new3' > > > df[,n3] <- I(mylist) > > > > # Warning message: > > # In `[<-.data.frame`(`*tmp*`, , "new3", value = list(c(1, 2, > > 3), : > > # provided 3 variables to replace 1 variables > > > > > eval(parse(text = paste0("df$","new4","<- mylist"))) > > > df > > > > # Sepal.Length Sepal.Width Petal.Length Petal.Width Species n1 > > new2 new3 new4 > > # 1 5.1 3.5 1.4 0.2 setosa 1, 2, > > 3 1 1 1, 2, 3 > > # > > 2 4.9 3.0 1.4 0.2 setosa 1 > > 2 2 1 > > # > > 3 4.7 3.2 1.3 0.2 setosa NULL > > 3 3 NULL > > > > > > The "eval" works correctly, however, if I want to avoid using > > "eval", what > > should I do? > > > > Thanks! > > > > ______________________________________________ > > R-help@r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see > > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > > PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-g > > uide.html > > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.