How To Use Boolean Logical Operators In R

Introduction

In this article I am going to demonstrate how to use logical operators in R to filter the data of a particular dataset accordingly. To demonstrate the use of logical operators we will be using a dplyr package along with aplanes dataset in R. We will be using filter function provided with dplyr package to manipulate and transform the data and to create subset of data as well.

Loading package and dataset

We will be using predefined planes dataset which belongs to a package named nycflights13. Therefore we need to load the package first as follows,

library(nycflights13)

Now we need to load the dataset planes as we will be using planes dataset to filter the data,

> planes

The above code will generate the following output,

> planes
# A tibble: 3,322 x 9
tailnum year type manufacturer model engines seats speed engine
<chr> <int> <chr> <chr> <chr> <int> <int> <int> <chr>
1 N10156 2004 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
2 N102UW 1998 Fixed wing multi engine AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320-214 2 182 NA Turbo-fan
3 N103US 1999 Fixed wing multi engine AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320-214 2 182 NA Turbo-fan
4 N104UW 1999 Fixed wing multi engine AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320-214 2 182 NA Turbo-fan
5 N10575 2002 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145LR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
6 N105UW 1999 Fixed wing multi engine AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320-214 2 182 NA Turbo-fan
7 N107US 1999 Fixed wing multi engine AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320-214 2 182 NA Turbo-fan
8 N108UW 1999 Fixed wing multi engine AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320-214 2 182 NA Turbo-fan
9 N109UW 1999 Fixed wing multi engine AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320-214 2 182 NA Turbo-fan
10 N110UW 1999 Fixed wing multi engine AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320-214 2 182 NA Turbo-fan
# ... with 3,312 more rows

To use the filter function, we need to load the library named dplyr. We can use the below syntax to load dplyr library,

> library(dplyr)
Attaching package: ‘dplyr’
The following objects are masked from ‘package:stats’:
filter, lag
The following objects are masked from ‘package:base’:
intersect, setdiff, setequal, union
>

Different logical operators

We can use filter function with different kinds of comparison operators to filter the dataset and to create a subset of data displaying data on the basis of conditions including comparison operators.

We can use Boolean logical operators to include multiple arguments in a filter function. These operators are and denoted by &, or denoted by | and not denoted by !.

> filter(planes, year == 2000 | year == 1998)
# A tibble: 418 x 9
tailnum year type manufacturer model engines seats speed engine
<chr> <int> <chr> <chr> <chr> <int> <int> <int> <chr>
1 N102UW 1998 Fixed wing multi engine AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320-214 2 182 NA Turbo-fan
2 N11206 2000 Fixed wing multi engine BOEING 737-824 2 149 NA Turbo-fan
3 N117UW 2000 Fixed wing multi engine AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320-214 2 182 NA Turbo-fan
4 N118US 2000 Fixed wing multi engine AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320-214 2 182 NA Turbo-fan
5 N119US 2000 Fixed wing multi engine AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320-214 2 182 NA Turbo-fan
6 N1200K 1998 Fixed wing multi engine BOEING 767-332 2 330 NA Turbo-fan
7 N1201P 1998 Fixed wing multi engine BOEING 767-332 2 330 NA Turbo-fan
8 N12125 1998 Fixed wing multi engine BOEING 757-224 2 178 NA Turbo-jet
9 N121UW 2000 Fixed wing multi engine AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320-214 2 182 NA Turbo-fan
10 N12216 1998 Fixed wing multi engine BOEING 737-824 2 149 NA Turbo-fan
# ... with 408 more rows

The above code displays all planes belonging to 1998 or 2000.

> filter(planes, year > 2004 | year < 1998)
# A tibble: 1,790 x 9
tailnum year type manufacturer model engines seats speed engine
<chr> <int> <chr> <chr> <chr> <int> <int> <int> <chr>
1 N11181 2005 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
2 N11184 2005 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
3 N11187 2005 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
4 N11189 2005 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
5 N11191 2005 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
6 N11192 2005 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
7 N11193 2005 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
8 N11194 2005 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
9 N11199 2006 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
10 N12109 1994 Fixed wing multi engine BOEING 757-224 2 178 NA Turbo-jet
# ... with 1,780 more rows

The above code displays all planes belonging to year greater than 2004 or less than 1998.

> filter(planes, year %in% c(1998, 2004))
# A tibble: 366 x 9
tailnum year type manufacturer model engines seats speed engine
<chr> <int> <chr> <chr> <chr> <int> <int> <int> <chr>
1 N10156 2004 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
2 N102UW 1998 Fixed wing multi engine AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320-214 2 182 NA Turbo-fan
3 N11155 2004 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
4 N11164 2004 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
5 N11165 2004 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
6 N11176 2004 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
7 N1200K 1998 Fixed wing multi engine BOEING 767-332 2 330 NA Turbo-fan
8 N1201P 1998 Fixed wing multi engine BOEING 767-332 2 330 NA Turbo-fan
9 N12125 1998 Fixed wing multi engine BOEING 757-224 2 178 NA Turbo-jet
10 N12157 2004 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
# ... with 356 more rows
>

The above code displays all planes belonging to 1998 or 2004.

> filter(planes, !(seats > 55 | engines > 5))
# A tibble: 512 x 9
tailnum year type manufacturer model engines seats speed engine
<chr> <int> <chr> <chr> <chr> <int> <int> <int> <chr>
1 N10156 2004 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
2 N10575 2002 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145LR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
3 N11106 2002 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
4 N11107 2002 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
5 N11109 2002 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
6 N11113 2002 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
7 N11119 2002 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
8 N11121 2003 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
9 N11127 2003 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
10 N11137 2003 Fixed wing multi engine EMBRAER EMB-145XR 2 55 NA Turbo-fan
# ... with 502 more rows

The above code displays all planes having seats not greater than 55 or engines not greater than 5.

> filter(planes, !(seats > 55 | engines > 1))
# A tibble: 27 x 9
tailnum year type manufacturer model engines seats speed engine
<chr> <int> <chr> <chr> <chr> <int> <int> <int> <chr>
1 N201AA 1959 Fixed wing single engine CESSNA 150 1 2 90 Reciprocating
2 N315AT NA Fixed wing single engine JOHN G HESS AT-5 1 2 NA 4 Cycle
3 N376AA 1978 Fixed wing single engine PIPER PA-32RT-300 1 7 NA Reciprocating
4 N377AA NA Fixed wing single engine PAIR MIKE E FALCON XP 1 2 NA Reciprocating
5 N378AA 1963 Fixed wing single engine CESSNA 172E 1 4 105 Reciprocating
6 N394AA 2007 Fixed wing single engine AVIAT AIRCRAFT INC A-1B 1 2 NA Reciprocating
7 N397AA 1985 Fixed wing single engine STEWART MACO FALCON XP 1 2 NA Reciprocating
8 N425AA 1968 Fixed wing single engine PIPER PA-28-180 1 4 107 Reciprocating
9 N508AA 1975 Rotorcraft BELL 206B 1 5 112 Turbo-shaft
10 N508JB 2007 Fixed wing single engine CIRRUS DESIGN CORP SR22 1 4 NA Reciprocating
# ... with 17 more rows

The above code displays all planes having seats not greater than 55 or engines not greater than 1.

Conclusion

In this article I demonstrated how to use Boolean logical operators in R to filter the data of a particular dataset accordingly. To demonstrate the use of logical operators, a dplyr package along with planes dataset in R is used. Filter function, which is provided with dplyr package to filter the data, is also used.