如何在R的for循环中将索引传递给对象的名称？

Question

I am trying to figure out how to have R accept my index within a for loop. As a simple example, I would like each new matrix to have a name index that is different than the one before:

for(i in 1:5){
new.matrix.i <- matrix(NA, nrow = i, ncol = i)
}

From this loop, I know it obviously doesn't work, but was wondering how I could create 5 new matrices, with the first being a one-by-one matrix of NA, and the second a two-by-two matrix of NA's, all the way to a five-by-five matrix with all NA's.

In other words, I am wondering how to have R treat

new.matrix.i

with i as a dynamic name instead of just a regular name for a matrix? Thanks!

Answer 1

We can use lapply to create a list of matrices

lst <- lapply(1:5, function(i)  matrix(NA, nrow = i, ncol = i))

---

Or we proceed with for loop, initialize the new.matrix.i as a list

new.matrix.i <- vector("list", 5)
for(i in 1:5){
    new.matrix.i[[i]] <- matrix(NA, nrow = i, ncol = i)   
}

NOTE: It is better not to create multiple objects in the global environment. A list of matrix (or other objects) are easier and convenient to use