r - How to select entire matrix except certain rows and columns?

Question

I have a 5x4 matrix and I want to select all elements (to be set to 0) except those in rows 2 to 4 AND columns 2 to 3. Basically, all the elements along the "edges" of the matrix should be set to 0. Currently, my code is

mat[ -(2:4), -(2:3) ] <- 0

However, this (de)selects the elements in an OR fashion so instead, only the corners of the matrix are set to 0. How can I choose them in AND fashion?

Answer 1

Use functions row and col together with logical operations. The following works because R's matrices are in column-first order.

mat <- matrix(seq.int(5*4), nrow = 5)
mat[ !(row(mat) %in% 2:4) | !(col(mat) %in% 2:3) ] <- 0
mat
#     [,1] [,2] [,3] [,4]
#[1,]    0    0    0    0
#[2,]    0    7   12    0
#[3,]    0    8   13    0
#[4,]    0    9   14    0
#[5,]    0    0    0    0