Help with vectors!

# your data
VAS<-c("Green","Green","Black","Green","White","Yellow","Yellow","Black","Green","Black")

# declare the new vector
New_Vector<-numeric(length(VAS))

# brute force:
New_Vector[VAS=="White"]<-1
New_Vector[VAS=="Yellow"]<-2
New_Vector[VAS=="Green"]<-3
New_Vector[VAS=="Black"]<-4

# a little more subtle
cols<-c("White","Yellow","Green","Black")
for (i in 1:length(cols))  New_Vector[VAS==cols[i]]<-i

# and a general approach (that may give a different indexing, but can be
used for any array)
for (i in 1:length(unique(VAS))) New_Vector[VAS==unique(VAS)[i]]<-i
cbind(1:length(unique(VAS)),unique(VAS)) # a decoding key for the color
index