Match Names of a Vector with String Values in R

If we want to match the names of a vector in sequence with string vector values in another vector having same values then pmatch function can be used. The pmatch function means pattern match hence it matches all the corresponding values and returns the index of the values. Check out the below examples to understand how it works.

Example

 Live Demo

x1<-c("A","B","C")
x1

Output

[1] "A" "B" "C"

Example

 Live Demo

y1=structure(c(1,2,3),.Names=c("C","A","B"))
y1

Output

C A B
1 2 3

Example

pmatch(x1,names(y1))

Output

[1] 2 3 1

Example

 Live Demo

x2<-sample(c("A","B","C"),80,replace=TRUE)
x2

Output

[1]  "C" "B" "B" "B" "C" "C" "B" "A" "A" "A" "A" "A" "A" "A" "A" "B" "C" "A" "B"
[20] "A" "A" "C" "C" "C" "B" "B" "C" "B" "B" "A" "A" "B" "C" "C" "B" "C" "B" "A"
[39] "C" "C" "C" "A" "A" "A" "B" "C" "C" "C" "B" "C" "B" "A" "A" "B" "C" "A" "C"
[58] "A" "A" "A" "B" "C" "B" "B" "A" "B" "C" "B" "A" "A" "A" "B" "C" "A" "C" "A"
[77] "C" "A" "B" "A"

Example

 Live Demo

y2<-sample(setNames(c(1,2,3),c("B","C","A")),80,replace=TRUE)
y2

Output

C B A A B B B B A B A A B A A A A C C C B B C C C B B B C A B A C B B B C C C C
2 1 3 3 1 1 1 1 3 1 3 3 1 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 2 3 1 3 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 2
B C A B B B B B C C C B B A C C A A A A B B C B A A A A B C C A A B B C B A C C
1 2 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 3 2 2 3 3 3 3 1 1 2 1 3 3 3 3 1 2 2 3 3 1 1 2 1 3 2 2

Example

pmatch(x2,names(y2))

Output

[1] 1 2 5 6 18 19 7 3 4 9 11 12 14 15 16 8 20 17 10 30 32 23 24 25 13
[26] 21 29 22 26 43 54 27 33 37 28 38 31 57 39 40 42 58 59 60 34 49 50 51 35 55
[51] 36 65 66 41 56 67 63 68 72 73 44 70 45 46 78 47 71 48 NA NA NA 52 76 NA 79
[76] NA 80 NA 53 NA

Example

 Live Demo

x3<-sample(c("India","China","Bangladesh","Russia"),80,replace=TRUE)
x3

Output

[1]  "China" "India" "Bangladesh" "Bangladesh" "Bangladesh"
[6]  "India" "China" "India" "Russia" "Bangladesh"
[11] "Bangladesh" "China" "Bangladesh" "China" "Bangladesh"
[16] "Russia" "Russia" "India" "India" "China"
[21] "China" "Bangladesh" "Bangladesh" "Russia" "Russia"
[26] "Bangladesh" "Russia" "Bangladesh" "China" "India"
[31] "India" "Russia" "India" "Russia" "India"
[36] "Bangladesh" "Russia" "Russia" "China" "India"
[41] "Russia" "Bangladesh" "Bangladesh" "India" "Bangladesh"
[46] "India" "India" "India" "India" "Russia"
[51] "Bangladesh" "India" "India" "Russia" "Bangladesh"
[56] "India" "India" "India" "China" "Bangladesh"
[61] "India" "Russia" "China" "Russia" "India"
[66] "India" "Russia" "India" "China" "Russia"
[71] "China" "Russia" "Bangladesh" "Bangladesh" "China"
[76] "Russia" "India" "Russia" "China" "India"

Example

 Live Demo

y3<-
sample(setNames(c(25,24,32,27),c("Russia","China","India","Bangladesh")),80,replace= TRUE)
y3

Output

Bangladesh India Russia China Bangladesh India China
   27       32      25    24       27       32    24
India Bangladesh China China India Russia Russia
  32       27       24    24    32    25    25
China China Bangladesh Russia Russia China China
   24    24    27       25       25    24    24
Russia Russia Russia India Russia China China
   25    25    25       32    25    24    24
Russia Bangladesh Bangladesh Bangladesh Russia India China
   25       27       27          27       25    32    24
Bangladesh Russia India Russia India Russia India
   27       25       32    25    32    25    32
Russia Russia Bangladesh India China China China
   25    25    27          32    24    24    24
India India Russia Russia Bangladesh China Bangladesh
   32    32 25 25 27 24 27
China India Bangladesh Bangladesh China India Russia
   24    32       27       27       24    32    25
China Bangladesh India Bangladesh India Russia China
   24       27     32    27          32    25    24
Russia Bangladesh Russia Russia Russia Russia Russia
   25       27       25    25       25    25    25
China Bangladesh India
   24    27       32

Example

pmatch(x3,names(y3))

Output

[1] 4 2 1 5 9 6 7 8 3 17 30 10 31 11 32 13 14 12 25 15 16 36 45 18 19
[26] 54 22 56 20 34 38 23 40 24 42 59 26 29 21 46 33 60 65 50 67 51 58 62 66 37
[51] 72 68 80 39 79 NA NA NA 27 NA NA 41 28 43 NA NA 44 NA 35 52 47 53 NA NA 48
[76] 63 NA 69 49 NA

Example

 Live Demo

x4<-sample(c("80 degree","90 degree","100 degree"),80,replace=TRUE)
x4

Output

[1] "80 degree" "100 degree" "90 degree" "80 degree" "80 degree"
[6] "80 degree" "100 degree" "100 degree" "80 degree" "90 degree"
[11] "80 degree" "90 degree" "80 degree" "80 degree" "80 degree"
[16] "100 degree" "100 degree" "80 degree" "90 degree" "100 degree"
[21] "90 degree" "90 degree" "80 degree" "90 degree" "80 degree"
[26] "80 degree" "90 degree" "80 degree" "90 degree" "100 degree"
[31] "80 degree" "90 degree" "90 degree" "100 degree" "100 degree"
[36] "90 degree" "100 degree" "90 degree" "90 degree" "100 degree"
[41] "90 degree" "100 degree" "80 degree" "80 degree" "90 degree"
[46] "100 degree" "100 degree" "100 degree" "90 degree" "100 degree"
[51] "80 degree" "100 degree" "80 degree" "80 degree" "90 degree"
[56] "100 degree" "80 degree" "80 degree" "100 degree" "80 degree"
[61] "80 degree" "80 degree" "80 degree" "80 degree" "100 degree"
[66] "100 degree" "100 degree" "80 degree" "90 degree" "80 degree"
[71] "80 degree" "90 degree" "80 degree" "80 degree" "80 degree"
[76] "90 degree" "100 degree" "80 degree" "80 degree" "80 degree"

Example

 Live Demo

<y4<-sample(setNames(c(90,100,80),c("90 degree","100 degree","80
degree")),80,replace=TRUE)
y4

Output

90 degree 100 degree 80 degree 100 degree 90 degree 90 degree 90 degree
90 100 80 100 90 90 90
100 degree 80 degree 80 degree 90 degree 90 degree 90 degree 100 degree
100 80 80 90 90 90 100
80 degree 80 degree 80 degree 100 degree 100 degree 100 degree 100 degree
80 80 80 100 100 100 100
100 degree 100 degree 100 degree 80 degree 80 degree 100 degree 100 degree
100 100 100 80 80 100 100
80 degree 80 degree 100 degree 100 degree 90 degree 90 degree 100 degree
80 80 100 100 90 90 100
80 degree 90 degree 100 degree 80 degree 100 degree 80 degree 100 degree
80 90 100 80 100 80 100
90 degree 90 degree 90 degree 100 degree 90 degree 100 degree 80 degree
90 90 90 100 90 100 80
80 degree 90 degree 90 degree 90 degree 100 degree 80 degree 80 degree
80 90 90 90 100 80 80
90 degree 100 degree 100 degree 90 degree 80 degree 100 degree 80 degree
90 100 100 90 80 100 80
80 degree 90 degree 100 degree 100 degree 100 degree 100 degree 100 degree
80 90 100 100 100 100 100
80 degree 100 degree 80 degree 80 degree 100 degree 100 degree 80 degree
80 100 80 80 100 100 80
90 degree 90 degree 100 degree
90 90 100

Example

pmatch(x4,names(y4))

Output

[1] 3 2 1 9 10 15 4 8 16 5 17 6 25 26 29 14 18 30 7 19 11 12 36 13 39
[26] 41 33 49 34 20 50 37 43 21 22 44 23 45 47 24 51 27 55 56 52 28 31 32 53 35
[51] 61 38 63 64 57 40 71 73 42 74 77 NA NA NA 46 48 54 NA 60 NA NA 65 NA NA NA
[76] 78 58 NA NA NA