Exploring Data Frames

There are many ways to get an understanding of the data contained in a data frame such as flights. We present three functions that take as their argument (their input) the data frame in question. We also include a fourth method for exploring one particular column of a data frame:

• Using the print() function, which brings up the data viewer

• Using the glimpse() function, which is included in the dplyr package

• Using the kable() function, which is included in the knitr package

• Using the $ “extraction operator,” which is used to view a single variable/column in a data frame

The print() function

We will run print(flights) in our console and explore this data frame in the resulting pop-up viewer. We should get into the habit of viewing any data frames we encounter.

Note: R is case-sensitive, so we’ll get an error message if we run Print(flights) instead of print(flights) ...