Can't convert a factor to a character vector with rlang

user_8374480 0
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When trying to convert a factor to a character with as_character(), I get an error.

a = factor(c(1,2))
a %>% as_character()
Error: Can't convert a `factor` object to a character vector

The base equivalent works:

a %>% as.character()
[1] "1" "2"

Why can't I make this simple operation with as_character?

rlang character r
1 Answers

This is because using as_character performs coercion and not conversion. Whereas, if you had used as.character, it would have done type conversion.

You can check the documentation of the as_character function by typing ?as_character`. This will give you more details.

user_127092650
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