Using factor function to get rid of Xs in front of values and set the labels

Question

The years in the Year column have Xs in front of them. I would like to get rid of these, using the “factor” function and set the labels. How can i do this please?

The reason why i do this is to make my graph look prettier.

Answer 1

library(stringr)
trendsdata <- structure(list(Year = c("X2015", "X2015", "X2015", "X2015", "X2015", 
                        "X2015")), row.names = c(NA, 6L), class = "data.frame")
#--------------
trendsdata$Year <- trendsdata$Year |> str_sub(2, 5) |>
  factor(labels = "First Year")
levels(trendsdata$Year)
    [1] "First Year"

Using str_sub to strip out the X, and factor to set the levels. I suspect that you will be happy without setting labels, in which case, just delete labels = "First Year"