# Create a vector as input.
data <- c("East","West","East","North","North","East","West","West","West","East","North")
print(data)
print(is.factor(data))
# Apply the factor function.
factor_data <- factor(data)
print(factor_data)
print(is.factor(factor_data))
# This returns a character vector, the as.numeric() function
# is still required to convert the values to the proper type (numeric).
f <- levels(f)[f]
f <- as.numeric(f)