# How to convert categorical data into dummy variables

**URL:** <https://community.exploratory.io/t/how-to-convert-categorical-data-into-dummy-variables/4231>\
**Category:** Questions\
**Created:** [May 12, 2026, 4:22pm UTC](https://community.exploratory.io/t/how-to-convert-categorical-data-into-dummy-variables/4231 "2026-05-12T16:22:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ikuya\_Murasato](https://community.exploratory.io/user_avatar/community.exploratory.io/ikuya_murasato/32/849_2.png) [@Ikuya\_Murasato](https://community.exploratory.io/u/Ikuya_Murasato)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2026, 4:22pm UTC](https://community.exploratory.io/t/how-to-convert-categorical-data-into-dummy-variables/4231/1 "2026-05-12T16:22:07Z")

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Please refer to the following link for instructions on how to perform dummy coding (one-hot encoding):

> **[How to perform One-Hot Encoding for Categorical Columns](https://exploratory.io/note/2ac8ae888097/How-to-perform-One-Hot-Encoding-for-Categorical-Columns-GTA8zLw0ll)**
>
> This post explains a way to perform One-Hot Encoding for Categorical Columns

Note that if you are running predictive models such as linear regression or machine learning in Exploratory, you do not need to pre-process the data into dummy variables.

 ![image](https://community.exploratory.io/uploads/default/original/2X/1/1a5a864e3d14755c3b015d0d453de4a3cf252770.png)

This is because when you select a categorical column as an explanatory variable, the system automatically converts the categorical data into dummy variables internally before building the model.