I tried running a code to identify the type of the vector produced while combining different data types. Here is the code and what I got as the output. Can somebody explain why this output is seen?
v<-c(1L,2,TRUE)
typeof(v)
Output: [1] "double"
What happens when you combine multiple datatypes in an atomic vector in R programming language?
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2 Answers
An atomic vector can only hold values of a single data type. If you put several different types in it, these get coerced to a common type. In your case double.
IF you want to keep the data type of the original values, you need to use a list. Lists do not have this restriction.
Seems like this is the rule:
When you attempt to combine different types they will be coerced in a fixed order: character → double → integer → logical. For example, combining a character and an integer yields a character.
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