R Group by Multiple Columns or Variables (2024)

How to perform a group by on multiple columns in R DataFrame? By using group_by() function from dplyr package we can perform group by on multiple columns or variables (two or more columns) and summarise on multiple columns for aggregations. Later, I will also explain how to apply summarise() on all columns and finally use multiple aggregation functions together.

1. Quick Examples of Grouping by Multiple Columns

Following are the quick examples of grouping dataframe on multiple columns.

# Group by on multiple columnsagg_tbl <- df %>% group_by(department, state) %>% summarise(total_salary=sum(salary))# Summarise on multiple columnsdf2<- df[,c("department","state","salary","bonus")]agg_tbl <- df2 %>% group_by(department, state) %>% summarise(across(c(salary, bonus), sum))# Apply multiple summariesdf2<- df[,c("department","state","salary","bonus")]agg_tbl <- df2 %>% group_by(department, state) %>% summarise(across(c(salary, bonus), list(mean = mean, sum = sum)))# Summarise all columns except grouping columnsdf2<- df[,c("department","state","age","salary","bonus")]agg_tbl <- df2 %>% group_by(department, state) %>% summarise(across(everything(), list(mean = mean, sum = sum)))

Let’s create a DataFrame by reading a CSV file.

# Read CSV file into DataFramedf = read.csv('/Users/admin/apps/github/r-examples/resources/emp.csv')df

Yields below output.

R Group by Multiple Columns or Variables (1)

2. Group By Multiple Columns in R using dplyr

Usegroup_by() function in R to group the rows in DataFrame by multiple columns (two or more), to use this function, you have to install dplyr first usinginstall.packages(‘dplyr’)and load it usinglibrary(dplyr).

All functions indplyrpackagetakedata.frameas a first argument. When we usedplyrpackage, we mostly use the infix operator%>%frommagrittr, it passes the left-hand side of the operator to the first argument of the operator’s right-hand side. For example,x %>% f(y)converted intof(x, y)so the result from the left-hand side is then “piped” into the right-hand side.

I will use infix operator%>% across all our examples as the output of group_by() function is input to summarise() function.

# Load dplyrlibrary(dplyr)# Group by on multiple columnsagg_tbl <- df %>% group_by(department, state) %>% summarise(total_salary=sum(salary))agg_tbl

Yields below output. This example does the group by on department and state columns and summarises on salary column and applies the sum function on each summarised column.

R Group by Multiple Columns or Variables (2)

Note that the output of group_by() and summarise() is tibble hence, to convert it to data.frame use as.data.frame() function.

df2 <- agg_tbl %>% as.data.frame()

3. Grop By & Summarise on Multiple Columns

To perform summarise on multiple columns, create a vector with the column names and use it with across() function.

This example does the group by on department and state columns, summarises on salary & bonus columns, and apply the sum function on each summarised column.

# Summarise on multiple columnsagg_tbl <- df %>% group_by(department, state) %>% summarise(across(c(salary, bonus), sum))

Yields below output.

R Group by Multiple Columns or Variables (3)

4. Apply Multiple Summarise Functions

Similarly, you can also perform multiple aggregation functions on all summarise columns in R.

This example does the group by on department and state columns, summarises on salary and bonus columns, and apply the sum & mean functions on each summarised column.

# Apply multiple summariesagg_tbl <- df %>% group_by(department, state) %>% summarise(across(c(salary, bonus), list(mean = mean, sum = sum)))

Yields below output.

R Group by Multiple Columns or Variables (4)

5. Summarise All Columns Except Grouping Columns

Finally, let’s see how to apply the aggregate functions on all columns of the DataFrame except grouping columns. While doing this make sure your dataframe has only numeric columns plus grouping columns. Having non-numeric on summarise returns an error.

This example does the group by on department and state columns, summarises on all columns except grouping columns, and apply the sum & mean functions on all summarised columns.

# Summarise all columns except grouping columnsdf2<- df[,c("department","state","age","salary","bonus")]agg_tbl <- df2 %>% group_by(department, state) %>% summarise(across(everything(), list(mean = mean, sum = sum)))agg_tbl

Yields below output.

R Group by Multiple Columns or Variables (5)

4. Conclusion

In this article, I have explained how to perform group by dataframe on multiple columns and apply different summarising types to get aggregation on grouped data. Since the output of group_by() and summarise() is tibble, use as.data.frame() function to convert it to data.frame.

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References

R Group by Multiple Columns or Variables (2024)

FAQs

Can I group by multiple columns in R? ›

Grouping can be also done using multiple columns belonging to the data frame for this just the names of the columns have to be passed to the function.

Can I group by 2 variables in R? ›

By using group_by() function from dplyr package we can perform group by on multiple columns or variables (two or more columns) and summarise on multiple columns for aggregations.

How do I count variables in group by in R? ›

count() lets you quickly count the unique values of one or more variables: df %>% count(a, b) is roughly equivalent to df %>% group_by(a, b) %>% summarise(n = n()) . count() is paired with tally() , a lower-level helper that is equivalent to df %>% summarise(n = n()) .

How do I combine data from multiple columns into one column in R? ›

Convert multiple columns into a single column, To combine numerous data frame columns into one column, use the union() function from the tidyr package.

What happens when we group by using multiple columns? ›

The GROUP BY clause is used along with some aggregate functions to group columns with the same values in different rows. The group by multiple columns technique retrieves grouped column values from one or more database tables by considering more than one column as grouping criteria.

How many columns can you include in your group by? ›

SELECT Statement: The GROUP BY Clause in SQL

A GROUP BY clause can contain two or more columns—or, in other words, a grouping can consist of two or more columns.

What does Groupby () do in R? ›

The group_by() function in R is from dplyr package that is used to group rows by column values in the DataFrame, It is similar to GROUP BY clause in SQL. R dplyr groupby is used to collect identical data into groups on DataFrame and perform aggregate functions on the grouped data.

Can you combine variables in R? ›

You can merge columns, by adding new variables; or you can merge rows, by adding observations. To add columns use the function merge() which requires that datasets you will merge to have a common variable.

How do I use multiple columns in R? ›

To pick out single or multiple columns use the select() function. The select() function expects a dataframe as it's first input ('argument', in R language), followed by the names of the columns you want to extract with a comma between each name.

Do I need to use GROUP BY with count? ›

The use of COUNT() function in conjunction with GROUP BY is useful for characterizing our data under various groupings. A combination of same values (on a column) will be treated as an individual group.

How to summarize data by group in R? ›

Group By Summarise R Example

The summarise() or summarize() function takes the grouped dataframe/table as input and performs the summarize functions. To get the dropped dataframe use group_by() function. To use group_by() and summarize() functions, you have to install dplyr first using install.

How do I consolidate data from multiple columns? ›

Combine data using the CONCAT function
  1. Select the cell where you want to put the combined data.
  2. Type =CONCAT(.
  3. Select the cell you want to combine first. Use commas to separate the cells you are combining and use quotation marks to add spaces, commas, or other text.
  4. Close the formula with a parenthesis and press Enter.

How do I stack data from multiple columns into one? ›

Use Ampersand (&) to merge two cells in Excel
  1. Double-click the cell in which you want to put the combined data and type =
  2. Click a cell you want to combine, type &, and click the other cell you wish to combine. ...
  3. Press Enter when you have selected all the cells you want to combine.
10 Jan 2022

How do I combine data from multiple columns into one cell? ›

2. How to Combine Excel Columns With the CONCAT Function
  1. Click the cell where you want the combined data to go.
  2. Type =CONCAT(
  3. Click the first cell you want to combine.
  4. Type ,
  5. Click the second cell you want to combine.
  6. Type )
  7. Press the Enter key.

What are the advantages of grouping multiple objects? ›

Grouping enhances faster and easier way of moving objects than moving one by one. The alignment of the object will not change when you move the objects.

What are the benefits of grouping of data? ›

What are the Advantages of Grouping Data? It helps to focus on important subpopulations and ignores irrelevant ones. Grouping of data improves the accuracy/efficiency of estimation.

Should GROUP BY have all the columns in the SELECT? ›

If you specify the GROUP BY clause, columns referenced must be all the columns in the SELECT clause that do not contain an aggregate function. These columns can either be the column, an expression, or the ordinal number in the column list.

Can we include all the columns in GROUP BY clause? ›

The GROUP BY clause must contain all the columns except the one which is used inside the group function.

How do I create multiple column groups? ›

To group columns in Excel, perform these steps: Select the columns you want to group, or at least one cell in each column. On the Data tab, in the Outline group, click the Group button. Or use the Shift + Alt + Right Arrow shortcut.

Can you GROUP BY two columns? ›

groupby() can take the list of columns to group by multiple columns and use the aggregate functions to apply single or multiple aggregations at the same time.

What is the difference between GROUP BY and distinct? ›

The major difference between the DISTINCT and GROUP BY is, GROUP BY operator is meant for the aggregating or grouping rows whereas DISTINCT is just used to get distinct values.

Does GROUP BY sort data? ›

A GROUP BY statement sorts data by grouping it based on column(s) you specify in the query and is used with aggregate functions.

Does GROUP BY ignore NULL values? ›

Group functions ignore the NULL values in the column. To enforce the group functions ti include the NULL value, use NVL function.

How do I combine multiple variables into one? ›

Method
  1. Select the variables or variable set from the Data Sets tree that you want to merge. ...
  2. From the toolbar menu, select Combine > As Variable Set > Merge Variables.
  3. At the next prompt choose whether or not you want to hide the input variables.
28 Sept 2022

How to combine two sets of data in R? ›

In R we use merge() function to merge two dataframes in R. This function is present inside join() function of dplyr package. The most important condition for joining two dataframes is that the column type should be the same on which the merging happens.

How to combine two categorical variables into one in R? ›

Combine categorical variables into one
  1. Description. Combine specified categorical variables by concatenating their values into one character, and returns the result along with tidyverse code used to generate it.
  2. Usage. combineCatVars( .data, vars, sep = ".", ...
  3. Arguments. .data. ...
  4. Details. ...
  5. Value. ...
  6. Author(s) ...
  7. Examples.

How do I join 3 columns in R? ›

To join data frames on multiple columns in R use either base merge() function or use dplyr functions.

How do I find common values in multiple columns in R? ›

To find the common elements between two columns of an R data frame, we can use intersect function.

How do I select a range of columns in R? ›

By using the R base bracket notation df[] you can select columns by index position (column number) from R data frame. The df[] notation takes syntax df[rows,columns] , so when using this notation to select columns by index use the columns parameter on the right after the comma.

What can I use instead of GROUP BY? ›

SQL Sub-query as a GROUP BY and HAVING Alternative

You can use a sub-query to remove the GROUP BY from the query which is using SUM aggregate function. There are many types of subqueries in Hive, but, you can use correlated subquery to calculate sum part.

Can you aggregate without GROUP BY? ›

GROUP BY in SQL, Explained

And data aggregation is impossible without GROUP BY! Therefore, it is important to master GROUP BY to easily perform all types of data transformations and aggregations. In SQL, GROUP BY is used for data aggregation, using aggregate functions.

How do you use GROUP BY correctly? ›

GROUP BY clause is used with the SELECT statement. In the query, GROUP BY clause is placed after the WHERE clause. In the query, GROUP BY clause is placed before ORDER BY clause if used any.

How to count how many times a value appears in a column in R? ›

To count the number of times a value occurs in a column of an R data frame, we can use table function for that particular column.

How to group data together in R? ›

How to Group Data With R
  1. Load the data set into Tibble.
  2. Enter the function group_by to group the information.
  3. Use summarise to analyze your data.
  4. Create a new column with mutate.
  5. Ungroup your data with ungroup().
1 Nov 2022

How do I count the number of elements in R? ›

In R, we can use the length() function to find the total number of elements present in a vector.

What is the difference between summarize and group by? ›

RE: Best practice summarize vs group by

Summarise is a dangerous function especially when we are talking in terms of row context. Group by in another hand delivers preety cheeky results while applying DAX.

What is the simplest way to summarize data? ›

A simple way to summarize data is to generate a table representing counts of various types of observations. This type of table has been used for thousands of years (see Figure 3.1).

What is the best way to summarize data? ›

The three common ways of looking at the center are average (also called mean), mode and median. All three summarize a distribution of the data by describing the typical value of a variable (average), the most frequently repeated number (mode), or the number in the middle of all the other numbers in a data set (median).

How do I separate data into multiple columns instantly? ›

Try it!
  1. Select the cell or column that contains the text you want to split.
  2. Select Data > Text to Columns.
  3. In the Convert Text to Columns Wizard, select Delimited > Next.
  4. Select the Delimiters for your data. ...
  5. Select Next.
  6. Select the Destination in your worksheet which is where you want the split data to appear.

How do I combine multiple columns into one in R? ›

Convert multiple columns into a single column, To combine numerous data frame columns into one column, use the union() function from the tidyr package.

What is a correct method to stack along columns? ›

column_stack(tup)[source] Stack 1-D arrays as columns into a 2-D array. Take a sequence of 1-D arrays and stack them as columns to make a single 2-D array. 2-D arrays are stacked as-is, just like with hstack .

How do I stack multiple columns into one column in R? ›

Method 1: Using stack method

The cbind() operation is used to stack the columns of the data frame together. Initially, the first two columns of the data frame are combined together using the df[1:2]. This is followed by the application of stack() method applied on the last two columns.

How do I combine three columns of data? ›

How to concatenate (combine) multiple columns into one field in Excel
  1. Use the CONCATENATE function in column D: =CONCATENATE(A1,B1,C1).
  2. In the menu bar, select Insert, Function. ...
  3. Enter A1 in the text1 field, B1 in the text2 field, and C1 in the text3 field.
  4. Click OK. ...
  5. Copy and paste for as many records as needed.

How do I combine all columns into one column? ›

Combine data from 2 columns into 1 column
  1. Select the cell where you want to put the combined data.
  2. Type = and select the first cell you want to combine.
  3. Type & and use quotation marks with a space enclosed.
  4. Select the next cell you want to combine and press enter. An example formula might be =A2&" "&B2.

How do I grab multiple columns in R? ›

To pick out single or multiple columns use the select() function. The select() function expects a dataframe as it's first input ('argument', in R language), followed by the names of the columns you want to extract with a comma between each name.

How do I combine a list of columns in R? ›

How do I concatenate two columns in R? To concatenate two columns you can use the <code>paste()</code> function. For example, if you want to combine the two columns A and B in the dataframe df you can use the following code: <code>df['AB'] <- paste(df$A, df$B)</code>.

How do I extract unique values from multiple columns in R? ›

To extract unique values in multiple columns in an R data frame, we first need to create a vector of the column values but for that we would need to read the columns in matrix form. After that we can simply unique function for the extraction.

How do I select multiple columns at once? ›

Select one or more rows and columns

Or click on any cell in the column and then press Ctrl + Space. Select the row number to select the entire row. Or click on any cell in the row and then press Shift + Space. To select non-adjacent rows or columns, hold Ctrl and select the row or column numbers.

How do you combine 5 columns? ›

How to Combine Multiple Cells or Columns in Excel Without Losing Data?
  1. Double-click the cell in which you want to put the combined data and type =
  2. Click a cell you want to combine, type &, and click the other cell you wish to combine. ...
  3. Press Enter when you have selected all the cells you want to combine.
10 Jan 2022

Can you join by multiple variables in R? ›

To join by multiple variables, use a vector with length > 1. For example, by = c("a", "b") will match x$a to y$a and x$b to y$b . Use a named vector to match different variables in x and y . For example, by = c("a" = "b", "c" = "d") will match x$a to y$b and x$c to y$d .

Does group by need all columns? ›

If you specify the GROUP BY clause, columns referenced must be all the columns in the SELECT clause that do not contain an aggregate function. These columns can either be the column, an expression, or the ordinal number in the column list.

Can you Groupby two columns? ›

groupby() can take the list of columns to group by multiple columns and use the aggregate functions to apply single or multiple aggregations at the same time.

How do I group columns and rows? ›

Select the data (including any summary rows or columns). On the Data tab, in the Outline group, click Group > Group Rows or Group Columns. Optionally, if you want to outline an inner, nested group — select the rows or columns within the outlined data range, and repeat step 3.

How do I combine a list of values in R? ›

Two or more R lists can be joined together. For that purpose, you can use the append , the c or the do. call functions. When combining the lists this way, the second list elements will be appended at the end of the first list.

How do I combine a list of data frames in R? ›

To combine data frames stored in a list in R, we can use full_join function of dplyr package inside Reduce function.

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