This answer is more meant to explain why, not how. The '==' operator in R is vectorized in a same way as the '+' operator. It matches the elements of whatever is on the left side to the elements of whatever is on the right side, per element. For example:
> 1:3 == 1:3
[1] TRUE TRUE TRUE
Here the first test is 1==1 which is TRUE, the second 2==2 and the third 3==3. Notice that this returns a FALSE in the first and second element because the order is wrong:
> 3:1 == 1:3
[1] FALSE TRUE FALSE
Now if one object is smaller then the other object then the smaller object is repeated as much as it takes to match the larger object. If the size of the larger object is not a multiplication of the size of the smaller object you get a warning that not all elements are repeated. For example:
> 1:2 == 1:3
[1] TRUE TRUE FALSE
Warning message:
In 1:2 == 1:3 :
longer object length is not a multiple of shorter object length
Here the first match is 1==1, then 2==2, and finally 1==3 (FALSE) because the left side is smaller. If one of the sides is only one element then that is repeated:
> 1:3 == 1
[1] TRUE FALSE FALSE
The correct operator to test if an element is in a vector is indeed '%in%' which is vectorized only to the left element (for each element in the left vector it is tested if it is part of any object in the right element).
Alternatively, you can use '&' to combine two logical statements. '&' takes two elements and checks elementwise if both are TRUE:
> 1:3 == 1 & 1:3 != 2
[1] TRUE FALSE FALSE