[R] facing problem in setting order of the levels in factor

[Ivan Calandra]

Hi,

I think you are looking for this:

y <- factor(x, levels=c("M","F","T"))

If you use the function levels(), you change the labels, but not the 
order, so that the first level (previously "F") will now be labeled "M", 
the second (previously "M") will now be labeled "F" ,and so on.
This explains why in the table(x) at the end you get the same 
frequencies in the same order, but the frequencies are associated with 
different labels/levels.

To change the order of the levels (but without changing the actual 
data), you need to change the level argument of the factor() function.

I hope this makes it clear, although I can imagine that my explanation 
is not crystal clear...

Ivan

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Le 19/08/2016 à 12:13, Anant Saini a écrit :
> Hi all,
>
> I'm just a beginner in R. I have a pretty basic doubt. This is the actual
> quote I wrote
>> x<-factor(c("M","F","M","T","M","T"))
>> levels(x)=c("M","F","T")
>> x
> [1] F M F T F T
> Levels: M F T
>> table(x)
> x
> M F T
> 1 3 2
>
> Expectation: I just wanted to change my baselevel from F to M. with the
> number of M and F remaining constant
>
> What exactly happened: The values of F and M also get exchanged along with
> the change of base level from F to M
>
>
> ​Best,​
>