How to Import a CSV File into R (example included)

To import a CSV file into R:

df = read.csv("Path where the CSV file is stored\\File Name.csv")

print(df)

Example of importing a CSV file into R

Let’s say that you have the following data stored in a CSV file (where the file name is ‘Products‘):

The goal is to import that CSV file into R.

For demonstration purposes, let’s assume that the ‘Products‘ CSV file is stored under the following path:

C:\\Users\\Ron\\Desktop\\Test\\Products.csv

Where:

• The file name (as highlighted in blue) is Products
• The file type (as highlighted in green) is .csv
• Double backslash (‘\\’) was applied within the path to avoid errors when importing files

Here is the full code to import the CSV file into R (you’ll need to modify the path to reflect the location where the CSV file is stored on your computer):

df = read.csv("C:\\Users\\Ron\\Desktop\\Test\\Products.csv")

print(df)

Run the code in R (adjusted to your path), and you’ll get the same values as in the CSV file:

  item_name  price
1      Desk    400
2    Tablet    150
3   Printer     85
4    Laptop   1300
5        TV   1500

What if you want to import a text file into R?

In that case, you only need to change the file extension from “.csv” to “.txt” (at the end of the path).

For example:

df = read.csv("C:\\Users\\Ron\\Desktop\\Test\\Products.txt")

print(df)

Once you run that code (adjusted to your path ), you’ll get the same imported data.

You may want to check the Read.csv documentation for additional information about importing a CSV file in R.

Finally, you may review the opposite case of exporting data to a CSV file in R.