How to Convert Character to Date Column in R DataFrame

April 27, 2024

To convert a Character (string) column to a Date column in R DataFrame:

df$column_name <- as.Date(df$column_name)

Example of Converting Character to Date Column in R DataFrame

Here is an example of converting a Character column to a Date column in R DataFrame, where the date format is “yyyy-mm-dd” (additional date formats are available in the section below):

# Create a DataFrame
df <- data.frame(
                 date_string = c("2023-07-15", "2023-08-20", "2023-09-10", "2023-10-05", "2023-05-11")
                 )

# Display the original DataFrame
print("Original DataFrame:")
print(df)

# Print the data types before conversion
print("Data Types Before Conversion:")
str(df)

# Convert the string column to date 
df$date <- as.Date(df$date_string)

# Display the new DataFrame
print("New DataFrame:")
print(df)

# Print the data types after conversion
print("Data Types After Conversion:")
str(df)

The result is a new date column, where the data type is Date:

[1] "Original DataFrame:"

  date_string
1  2023-07-15
2  2023-08-20
3  2023-09-10
4  2023-10-05
5  2023-05-11

[1] "Data Types Before Conversion:"

'data.frame':   5 obs. of  1 variable:
 $ date_string: chr  "2023-07-15" "2023-08-20" "2023-09-10" "2023-10-05" ...

[1] "New DataFrame:"

  date_string        date
1  2023-07-15  2023-07-15
2  2023-08-20  2023-08-20
3  2023-09-10  2023-09-10
4  2023-10-05  2023-10-05
5  2023-05-11  2023-05-11

[1] "Data Types After Conversion:"

'data.frame':   5 obs. of  2 variables:
 $ date_string: chr  "2023-07-15" "2023-08-20" "2023-09-10" "2023-10-05" ...
 $ date       : Date, format: "2023-07-15" "2023-08-20" ...

Note that the str(df) function was used to print the data types of the column before and after the conversion.

Other Date Formats

(1) Date format of “dd-mm-yyyy”

df <- data.frame(
                 date_string = c("15-07-2023", "20-08-2023", "10-09-2023", "05-10-2023", "25-11-2023")
                 )
 
df$date <- as.Date(df$date_string, format = "%d-%m-%Y")

print(df)
str(df)

Output:

  date_string        date
1  15-07-2023  2023-07-15
2  20-08-2023  2023-08-20
3  10-09-2023  2023-09-10
4  05-10-2023  2023-10-05
5  25-11-2023  2023-11-25

'data.frame':   5 obs. of  2 variables:
 $ date_string: chr  "15-07-2023" "20-08-2023" "10-09-2023" "05-10-2023" ...
 $ date       : Date, format: "2023-07-15" "2023-08-20" ...

(2) Date format of “dd/mm/yyyy”

df <- data.frame(
                 date_string = c("15/07/2023", "20/08/2023", "10/09/2023", "05/10/2023", "25/11/2023"
                 )
 
df$date <- as.Date(df$date_string, format = "%d/%m/%Y")

print(df)
str(df)

Output:

  date_string        date
1  15-07-2023  2023-07-15
2  20-08-2023  2023-08-20
3  10-09-2023  2023-09-10
4  05-10-2023  2023-10-05
5  25-11-2023  2023-11-25

'data.frame':   5 obs. of  2 variables:
 $ date_string: chr  "15-07-2023" "20-08-2023" "10-09-2023" "05-10-2023" ...
 $ date       : Date, format: "2023-07-15" "2023-08-20" ...

(3) Date format of “mm.dd.yyyy”

df <- data.frame(
                 date_string = c("07.15.2023", "08.20.2023", "09.10.2023", "10.05.2023", "11.25.2023")
                 )
 
df$date <- as.Date(df$date_string, format = "%m.%d.%Y")

print(df)
str(df)

Output:

  date_string        date
1  07.15.2023  2023-07-15
2  08.20.2023  2023-08-20
3  09.10.2023  2023-09-10
4  10.05.2023  2023-10-05
5  11.25.2023  2023-11-25

'data.frame':   5 obs. of  2 variables:
 $ date_string: chr  "07.15.2023" "08.20.2023" "09.10.2023" "10.05.2023" ...
 $ date       : Date, format: "2023-07-15" "2023-08-20" ...

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