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How to Find the Max Value Across Multiple Columns in R

by Tutor Aspire

We can use the pmax() function to find the max value across multiple columns in R. This function uses the following syntax:

pmax(…, na.rm = FALSE)

where:

  • … : A list of vectors
  • na.rm: A logical indicating whether missing values should be removed. Default is FALSE.

This tutorial provides several examples of how to use this function in practice using the following data frame:

#create data frame
df #view DataFrame
df

  player points rebounds assists
1      A     28        5      10
2      B     17        6      13
3      C     19        4       7
4      D     14        7       8
5      E     23       14       4
6      F     26       12       5
7      G      5        9       8

Example 1: Find the Max Across Specific Columns

The following code shows how to find the max value across the points and rebounds columns in a data frame:

#find max values in each row across points and rebounds columns
pmax(df$points, df$rebounds)

[1] 28 17 19 14 23 26  9

Example 2: Add A New Column Containing the Max Value

The following code shows how to add a new column to the data frame that contains the max value across the points and rebounds columns:

#add new column that contains max values across points and rebounds columns
df$max_points_rebs  pmax(df$points, df$rebounds)

#view data frame
df

  player points rebounds assists max_points_rebs
1      A     28        5      10              28
2      B     17        6      13              17
3      C     19        4       7              19
4      D     14        7       8              14
5      E     23       14       4              23
6      F     26       12       5              26
7      G      5        9       8               9

Example 3: Add Several New Columns Containing Max Values

The following code shows how to add several new columns to the data frame that contain the max values across different groups of columns:

#add new column that contains max values across points and rebounds columns
df$max_p_r  pmax(df$points, df$rebounds)

#add new column that contains max values across rebounds and assists columns
df$max_r_a  pmax(df$rebounds, df$assists)

#view data frame
df

  player points rebounds assists max_p_r max_r_a
1      A     28        5      10      28      10
2      B     17        6      13      17      13
3      C     19        4       7      19       7
4      D     14        7       8      14       8
5      E     23       14       4      23      14
6      F     26       12       5      26      12
7      G      5        9       8       9       9

Additional Resources

How to Calculate the Mean by Group in R
How to Average Across Columns in R
How to Sum Specific Columns in R

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