How to Assign NULL to a List Item in R (2 Examples)

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to assign NULL to a list element in R.

Creation of Example Data

x <- list(10:4,                     # Constructing an example list
          LETTERS[8:5],
          c(4, 1, 5, 2, 6, 3),
          "abcde",
          10:15)
x
# [[1]]
# [1] 10  9  8  7  6  5  4
# 
# [[2]]
# [1] "H" "G" "F" "E"
# 
# [[3]]
# [1] 4 1 5 2 6 3
# 
# [[4]]
# [1] "abcde"
# 
# [[5]]
# [1] 10 11 12 13 14 15

Example 1: Removing a List Element by Assigning NULL

x_updated1 <- x                     # Delete list element
x_updated1[[4]] <- NULL
x_updated1
# [[1]]
# [1] 10  9  8  7  6  5  4
# 
# [[2]]
# [1] "H" "G" "F" "E"
# 
# [[3]]
# [1] 4 1 5 2 6 3
# 
# [[4]]
# [1] 10 11 12 13 14 15

Example 2: Setting a List Element to NULL

x_updated2 <- x                     # Replace list element by NULL
x_updated2[4] <- list(NULL)
x_updated2
# [[1]]
# [1] 10  9  8  7  6  5  4
# 
# [[2]]
# [1] "H" "G" "F" "E"
# 
# [[3]]
# [1] 4 1 5 2 6 3
# 
# [[4]]
# NULL
# 
# [[5]]
# [1] 10 11 12 13 14 15

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