Strings in R Programming

4/3/23, 11:16 PM R - Strings




R - Strings

Any value written within a pair of single quote or double quotes in R is treated as a string.
Internally R stores every string within double quotes, even when you create them with single
quote.


Rules Applied in String Construction
The quotes at the beginning and end of a string should be both double quotes or both single
quote. They can not be mixed.

Double quotes can be inserted into a string starting and ending with single quote.
Single quote can be inserted into a string starting and ending with double quotes.

Double quotes can not be inserted into a string starting and ending with double quotes.

Single quote can not be inserted into a string starting and ending with single quote.



Examples of Valid Strings
Following examples clarify the rules about creating a string in R.

 Live Demo


a <- 'Start and end with single quote'
print(a)


b <- "Start and end with double quotes"
print(b)


c <- "single quote ' in between double quotes"
print(c)

d <- 'Double quotes " in between single quote'
print(d)



https://www.tutorialspoint.com/r/r_strings.htm 1/7

, 4/3/23, 11:16 PM R - Strings

When the above code is run we get the following output −


[1] "Start and end with single quote"
[1] "Start and end with double quotes"
[1] "single quote ' in between double quote"
[1] "Double quote \" in between single quote"


Examples of Invalid Strings
 Live Demo


e <- 'Mixed quotes"
print(e)


f <- 'Single quote ' inside single quote'
print(f)


g <- "Double quotes " inside double quotes"
print(g)


When we run the script it fails giving below results.


Error: unexpected symbol in:
"print(e)
f <- 'Single"
Execution halted


String Manipulation
Concatenating Strings - paste() function
Many strings in R are combined using the paste() function. It can take any number of arguments
to be combined together.

Syntax
The basic syntax for paste function is −
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