R append function - r

Question

I'm writing an R script that parses out the a state abbreviation from a column in a data.frame. It then uses the which() function to determine the index of the found state abbreviation in a look up data frame that contains state abbreviations and their corresponding full state names. I then use the found index to access the the full state name and append it to a vector called completeList. I then add the vector completeList which should contain the full state names to my original data frame under a newly created column STATE_NAME.
However, for some reason completeList only contains the indexes that were found earlier and not the full state names that I expected. What did I do wrong?
#read in csv weather data file
file <- read.csv(header = TRUE, file = "C:\\Users\\michael.guarino1\\Desktop\\Work\\weather\\nov_2_1976\\734677_cleaned.csv")
#read in csv state Abbreviation file
abbreviationsFile<-read.csv(header=TRUE, file="C:\\Users\\michael.guarino1\\Desktop\\Work\\weather\\stateAbbreviationMatches.csv")
#iterate through STATION_NAME and store abreviations
completeList<-c()
for(stateAbvr in file$STATION_NAME){
addTo<-(substring(stateAbvr,(nchar(stateAbvr)-4),(nchar(stateAbvr)-3)))
index<-which(abbreviationsFile$Abbreviation==addTo)
addCompleteStateName<-(abbreviationsFile[index,1])
completeList<-append(completeList, addCompleteStateName)
}
file["STATE_NAME"]<-completeList
>completeList
[1] 27 17 17 29 42 50 20 53 45 19 22 52 9 29 26 37 8 58 35
Here is the csv file where the abbreviation of the station is found
STATION STATION_NAME ELEVATION
GHCND:USC00202381 EAST JORDAN MI US 180.1
GHCND:USC00111290 CARLYLE RESERVOIR IL US 153
GHCND:USC00116661 PAW PAW 2 S IL US 274.9
GHCND:USC00228556 SUMRALL MS US 88.1
GHCND:USC00340292 ARDMORE OK US 267.9
GHCND:USC00408522 SPARTA WASTEWATER PLANT TN US 289.9
GHCND:USC00148341 VALLEY FALLS KS US 283.5
GHCND:USW00014742 BURLINGTON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT VT US 101.2
GHCND:USC00367782 SALINA 3 W PA US 338
GHCND:USC00134142 IOWA FALLS IA US 356.9
GHCND:USC00161565 CARVILLE 2 SW LA US 9.1
GHCND:USC00421446 CITY CRK WATER PLANT UT US 1628.9
GHCND:USW00013781 WILMINGTON NEW CASTLE CO AIRPORT DE US 22.6
GHCND:USC00229400 WATER VALLEY MS US 116.1
GHCND:USC00190562 BELCHERTOWN MA US 171
GHCND:USW00094728 NEW YORK CENTRAL PARK OBS BELVEDERE TOWER NY US 40.2
GHCND:USC00060973 BURLINGTON CT US 155.4
GHCND:USC00475516 MINOCQUA WI US 484.9
GHCND:USC00286055 NEW BRUNSWICK 3 SE NJ US 38.1
Here is the csv file where we look up abbreviations and find the corresponding full state name
State/Possession Abbreviation
Alabama AL
Alaska AK
American Samoa AS
Arizona AZ
Arkansas AR
California CA
Colorado CO
Connecticut CT
Delaware DE
District of Columbia DC
Federated States of Micronesia FM
Florida FL
Georgia GA
Guam GU
Hawaii HI
Idaho ID
Illinois IL
Indiana IN
Iowa IA
Kansas KS
Kentucky KY
Louisiana LA
Maine ME
Marshall Islands MH
Maryland MD
Massachusetts MA
Michigan MI
Minnesota MN
Mississippi MS
Missouri MO
Montana MT
Nebraska NE
Nevada NV
New Hampshire NH
New Jersey NJ
New Mexico NM
New York NY
North Carolina NC
North Dakota ND
Northern Mariana Islands MP
Ohio OH
Oklahoma OK
Oregon OR
Palau PW
Pennsylvania PA
Puerto Rico PR
Rhode Island RI
South Carolina SC
South Dakota SD
Tennessee TN
Texas TX
Utah UT
Vermont VT
Virgin Islands VI
Virginia VA
Washington WA
West Virginia WV
Wisconsin WI
Wyoming WY
Why am I not getting the full state name?

Answer 1

figured it out 😎
#read in csv weather data file
file <- read.csv(header = TRUE, file = "C:\\Users\\michael.guarino1\\Desktop\\Work\\weather\\nov_2_1976\\734677_cleaned.csv")
#read in csv state Abbreviation file
abbreviationsFile<-read.csv(header=TRUE, file="C:\\Users\\michael.guarino1\\Desktop\\Work\\weather\\stateAbbreviationMatches.csv")
#iterate through STATION_NAME and store abreviations
completeList<-c()
for(stateAbvr in file$STATION_NAME){
addTo<-(substring(stateAbvr,(nchar(stateAbvr)-4),(nchar(stateAbvr)-3)))
index<-which(abbreviationsFile$Abbreviation==addTo)
addCompleteStateName<-(abbreviationsFile[index,1])
completeList<-append(completeList, toString(addCompleteStateName))
}
file["STATE_NAME"]<-completeList
the type was being forced to an integer

Answer 2

The variable addCompleteStateName is a factor. You can convert it to a character to append the labels.
#iterate through STATION_NAME and store abreviations
completeList<-c()
for(stateAbvr in file$STATION_NAME){
addTo<-(substring(stateAbvr,(nchar(stateAbvr)-4),(nchar(stateAbvr)-3)))
index<-which(abbreviationsFile$Abbreviation==addTo)
addCompleteStateName<-(abbreviationsFile[index,1])
# modified to convert addCompleteStateName to character
completeList<-append(completeList, as.character(addCompleteStateName))
}
file["STATE_NAME"]<-completeList