String Manipulation with stringr in R

Time to meet stringr! You'll start by learning about some stringr functions that are very similar to some base R functions, then how to detect specific patterns in strings, how to split strings apart and how to find and replace parts of strings.

In this chapter you'll learn about regular expressions, a language for describing patterns in strings. By combining regular expressions with the stringr functions you'll greatly increase your power to manipulate strings.

Now for two advanced ways to use regular expressions along with stringr: selecting parts of a match (a.k.a capturing) and referring back to parts of a match (a.k.a back-referencing). You'll also learn to deal with and strings or patterns that contain Unicode characters (e.g. é).

Practice your string manipulation skills on a couple of case studies. You'll also learn a few new skills, reading strings into R and handling problems of case (e.g. A versus a).