How to Use the scan() Function in R

The scan() function is used to read data from file in vector or list format in R.

The following method shows how you can do it with syntax.

Method 1: Use scan() Function

scan(file="name_of_file",what=type_of_data_to_read)

The following example shows how to use scan() function in R.

Use scan() function

Suppose I have Machine_data.csv file in my working directory and want to read data from file in list format:

# Read from CSV file into list format
data <- scan("Machine_data.csv", what = list("", "", "", "", ""))

# Show data
print(data)

Output:

[[1]]
[1] "Date,Machine_type,Status,Pressure,Temperature"
[2] "01-11-2023,Mach_A,FALSE,89,10.1"              

[[2]]
[1] "21-10-2023,Mach_1,TRUE,11,45.6" "02-11-2023,Mach_B,TRUE,85,12.8"

[[3]]
[1] "22-10-2023,Mach_2,TRUE,12,47.2"   "03-11-2023,Mach_C,FALSE,87,13.74"

[[4]]
[1] "23-10-2023,Mach_3,FALSE,10,46.1" "04-11-2023,Mach_D,FALSE,90,9.55"

[[5]]
[1] "24-10-2023,Mach_4,TRUE,11,46.85" ""  

The output shows data from Machine_data.txt file in list format.

We can check data is list or not by using class() function:

# Check class of data
class(data)

Output:

[1] "list"

As we can see in output the class of data is list.