[R] Converting unique strings to unique numbers

[Jeff Newmiller]

Of course, but I would not recommend it. A factor is a vector of integers with an attribute containing the labels that those integers correspond to. You seem to be asking for a factor that has lost the definitions part. But hey, newvector <- as.integer(factor(oldvector)) should get you what you asked for one column at a time.
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Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity.

On May 29, 2015 9:58:22 AM PDT, Kate Ignatius <kate.ignatius at gmail.com> wrote:
>I have a pedigree file as so:
>
>X0001 BYX859      0      0  2  1 BYX859
>X0001 BYX894      0      0  1  1 BYX894
>X0001 BYX862 BYX894 BYX859  2  2 BYX862
>X0001 BYX863 BYX894 BYX859  2  2 BYX863
>X0001 BYX864 BYX894 BYX859  2  2 BYX864
>X0001 BYX865 BYX894 BYX859  2  2 BYX865
>
>And I was hoping to change all unique string values to numbers.
>
>That is:
>
>BYX859 = 1
>BYX894 = 2
>BYX862 = 3
>BYX863 = 4
>BYX864 = 5
>BYX865 = 6
>
>But only in columns 2 - 4.  Essentially I would like the data to look
>like this:
>
>X0001 1 0 0  2  1 BYX859
>X0001 2 0 0  1  1 BYX894
>X0001 3 2 1  2  2 BYX862
>X0001 4 2 1  2  2 BYX863
>X0001 5 2 1  2  2 BYX864
>X0001 6 2 1  2  2 BYX865
>
>Is this possible with factors?
>
>Thanks!
>
>K.
>
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