Create a Group Column in an R Data Frame

Suppose we have a data frame called df that contains two columns say X and Y then we can create a group column based on X and Y by converting df into a data.table object and creating list of values in X and Y with list function.

Check out the below Examples to understand how it can be done.

Example 1

Following snippet creates a sample data frame −

x1<-rpois(20,2)
x2<-rpois(20,2)
df1<-data.frame(x1,x2)
df1

The following dataframe is created

  x1 x2
1  1 5
2  1 1
3  0 1
4  1 1
5  2 1
6  2 3
7  4 2
8  0 4
9  2 1
10 2 2
11 0 1
12 3 1
13 3 3
14 4 3
15 2 0
16 1 3
17 2 1
18 3 1
19 5 1
20 3 2

To load data.table object and create a group column for values in df1 on the above created data frame, add the following code to the above snippet −

x1<-rpois(20,2)
x2<-rpois(20,2)
df1<-data.frame(x1,x2)
library(data.table)
setDT(df1)[,Group:=.GRP,by=list(x1,x2)]
df1

Output

If you execute all the above given snippets as a single program, it generates the following Output −

   x1 x2 Group
1:  1  5 1
2:  1  1 2
3:  0  1 3
4:  1  1 2
5:  2  1 4
6:  2  3 5
7:  4  2 6
8:  0  4 7
9:  2  1 4
10: 2 2  8
11: 0 1  3
12: 3 1  9
13: 3 3 10
14: 4 3 11
15: 2 0 12
16: 1 3 13
17: 2 1  4
18: 3 1  9
19: 5 1 14
20: 3 2 15

Example 2

Following snippet creates a sample data frame −

y1<-sample(LETTERS[1:4],20,replace=TRUE)
y2<-sample(LETTERS[1:4],20,replace=TRUE)
df2<-data.frame(y1,y2)
df2

The following dataframe is created

  y1 y2
1  B C
2  B D
3  D C
4  D B
5  A B
6  D A
7  A C
8  A C
9  D B
10 C C
11 A A
12 C D
13 B C
14 C C
15 A A
16 D B
17 B A
18 C B
19 C B
20 C B

To create a group column for values in df2 on the above created data frame, add the following code to the above snippet −

y1<-sample(LETTERS[1:4],20,replace=TRUE)
y2<-sample(LETTERS[1:4],20,replace=TRUE)
df2<-data.frame(y1,y2)
setDT(df2)[,Group:=.GRP,by=list(y1,y2)]
df2

Output

If you execute all the above given snippets as a single program, it generates the following Output −

  y1 y2 Group
1:  B C  1
2:  B D  2
3:  D C  3
4:  D B  4
5:  A B  5
6:  D A  6
7:  A C  7
8:  A C  7
9:  D B  4
10: C C  8
11: A A  9
12: C D 10
13: B C  1
14: C C  8
15: A A  9
16: D B  4
17: B A 11
18: C B 12
19: C B 12
20: C B 12