Trouble converting factor to numeric

[sdeepj]

I'm trying to run a simple summerise function, however I get the error message:

Error:
Problem with summarise() input TotalAmount.
x ‘sum’ not meaningful for factors
i Input TotalAmount is sum(Amount).

I tried using as.numeric() function and the as.numeric(as.character()) both times it has resulted in error messages

[nirgrahamuk]

Hi!

To help us help you, could you please prepare a reproducible example (reprex) illustrating your issue? Please have a look at this guide, to see how to create one:

FAQ: How to do a minimal reproducible example ( reprex ) for beginners

A minimal reproducible example consists of the following items: A minimal dataset, necessary to reproduce the issue The minimal runnable code necessary to reproduce the issue, which can be run on the given dataset, and including the necessary information on the used packages. Let's quickly go over each one of these with examples: Minimal Dataset (Sample Data) You need to provide a data frame that is small enough to be (reasonably) pasted on a post, but big enough to reproduce your issue. Let's say, as an example, that you are working with the iris data frame head(iris) #> Sepal.Length Sepal.Width Petal.Length Petal.Width Species #> 1 5.1 3.5 1.4 0.…

[sdeepj]

Here's the sample of what I'm trying to do:

Code Amount
001 78,382
001 89,768
007 56,621
006 52,921
002 38,922
006 36,889
006 87,373

I want to group the data set by code, then add up the amount. However R is reading the Amount values as a factor rather than numeric. I have over 3,000 rows with 5 values

[nirgrahamuk]

@sdeepj

78,382

It would be even better if you read the information in the link and acted on it, but on this occasion, I can at least diagnose your problem immediately. You have commas in the character string representation of Amount. as.numeric won't know what to do with that.

You have two options.

1. use string functions to edit out the commas, perhaps base::gsub()
2. use a function that is designed to interpret numbers from text, perhaps readr::parse_number()

in both cases you want to convert from the factors you have to strings first, with as.character()