The order() function in R is very useful in sorting a particular data values according to a specific variable.

Hello folks, changing the order of the values or elements present in a data frame or a vector is found to be very effective in data analysis. Hence, this R tutorial is focussed on the order() function which is used to order the data.

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Let’s start with the syntax

Order() = The order() function will arranges the data or orders the data based on given parameters.

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order``(x,decreasing=F,na.last=``**NA**``)

Where,

  • **x **= data frame or a vector
  • **decreasing **= Orders the data in decreasing fashion, by default it will be FALSE.
  • na.last = It moves the NA elements to the last, otherwise, it considers NA at the first as well.

Ordering a simple vector in R

In this section, we can try to order a simple vector having some values in it. Let’s make use of order() function to order the values as well.

This is a simple vector and now we can try to order the values.

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#creates a vector

x<-``c``(3.5,7.8,5.6,1.1,2.9,4.4)

#orders the values in the vector in an ascending or increasing fashion

x[``order``(x)]

You will get the values arranged in the increasing fashion because by default the parameter is set as decreasing = F.

Output = 1.1 2.9 3.5 4.4 5.6 7.8

The above output shows the ascending order, now let’s order the values in a decreasing fashion.

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#creates a vector

x<-``c``(3.5,7.8,5.6,1.1,2.9,4.4)

#orders the data in the decreasing fashion

x[``order``(x,decreasing = T)]

Output = 7.8 5.6 4.4 3.5 2.9 1.1


Ascending and descending ordering

With the help of order() function, you can easily order the values in both increasing and decreasing fashion as well. Let’s see how it works.

Let’s create a data frame using ‘tibble’ function.

Tibble: Tibble in R is widely used to generate a data frame with random values. It may include multiple rows and columns as well.

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#import the required package

library``(dplyr)

#creates a data frame with normal distribution values.

df<-``tibble``(

column1=``rnorm``(5,5,1.5),

column2=``rnorm``(5,5,1.5),

column3=``rnorm``(5,5,1.5),

column4=``rnorm``(5,5,1.5))

The data frame created using tibble function is shown below.

Tibble

Let’s order the particular columns in this data frame.

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#orders the values in the column 1

df[``order``(df$column1),]

Tibble 1 1

As you can in the above output, column 1 has been sorted in increasing fashion.

Let’s see how we can order the column in a data frame as well and also using the** ‘-‘** (negative) sign to order the values in a decreasing fashion.

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#orders the values [decresing the column values]

df[``order``(-df$column1),]

Tibble 2

As you can see in the above piece of code column 1 is backed by the negative ‘-‘ sign which indicates the decreasing order. Like this method also you can change the ordering fashion instead of mentioning parameters as shown in the syntax and in the above examples.

#r programming #r #syntax

Order() function in R - a brief explanation
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