title: How to split an existing column into three and then append it to the data set?
body: <p>Good morning, everyone! I am a beginner with R, and I was given an assignment. It looks as follows:</p>
  <p>&quot;Split the <code>“eventdate”</code> column in the <code>ACLED</code> dataset into separate <code>day</code>, <code>month</code>, and <code>year</code> columns that are then appended to the <code>ACLED</code> dataset.&quot;</p>
  <p>We are working with <code>strsplit()</code> and <code>paste()</code>, but I suspect this is not enough.</p>
  <p>The eventdate column in <code>ACLED</code> looks like this:</p>
  <pre><code>&quot;01 August 2020&quot;
  </code></pre>
  <p>I was trying to do it like this:</p>
  <pre><code>strsplit(brazil_acled$event_date, &quot; &quot;) 
  </code></pre>
  <p>and then use the <code>paste()</code> function to append it. But I still do not understand how to create three columns out of splitting text in the existing data set.</p>
  <p>I am really new with R and I am with students that are advanced. I am having a difficult time, and I appreciate any help.</p>
  <p>Thank you!</p>
  <p>Note that I need to do this without using loops.</p>