Change the column names of the data frame only for display purpose

Question

Is there a way to change the names of the column headers of a data frame only for display purpose. For example

iris data has below default columns

ini_col <- c("Sepal.Length","Sepal.Width","Petal.Length","Petal.Width" ,"Species")

In case if I need to change it to below new columns. But only display purpose. Meaning, the reference of the old columns should not go away. For example I should still be able to execute iris[["Species"]] and not iris[["Category"]]

new_col <- c("Sep Len","Sep Wid","Pet Len","Pet Wid","Category")

head(iris)
         Sep Len     Sep Wid     Pet Len     Pet Wid Category 
1          5.1         3.5          1.4         0.2  setosa
2          4.9         3.0          1.4         0.2  setosa
3          4.7         3.2          1.3         0.2  setosa
4          4.6         3.1          1.5         0.2  setosa
5          5.0         3.6          1.4         0.2  setosa
6          5.4         3.9          1.7         0.4  setosa

We can actually make use of below code Code 1 below

mtcars2 <- 
  set_label(mtcars,
            am = "Automatic",
            mpg = "Miles per gallon",
            cyl = "Cylinders",
            qsec = "Quarter mile time")

But I have a dataframe where in there are old columns and new columns. Can we make this dataframe use in Code 1 above

df
Old COl    new COl
am         Automatic
mpg    Miles per gallon
cyl       Cylinders
qsec   Quarter mile time

Can we use this dataframe in executing Code1?

Thanks. But will the old reference change. Somwhere in Shiny application, Can I execute ````iris[["Species"]]```` — manish p, May 21 '20 at 14:16
Hi, maybe this approach would work? https://stackoverflow.com/a/51444998/7347699 — Michael Harper, May 21 '20 at 14:20
The [labelVector](https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/labelVector/vignettes/labelVector.html) package looks promising. I've never used it, and since you're talking about Shiny in comments it probably depends heavily on what functions/packages you're using to display the data. — Gregor Thomas, May 21 '20 at 14:27
@GregorThomas Awesome thanks. But I have new columns in the form of dataframe (please see edited question). Can we keep this dataframe and execute setlabel? — manish p, May 21 '20 at 14:44
@GregorThomas FYI by using set label, even the old names gets repeated :( — manish p, May 21 '20 at 16:32
How are you are you displaying the data? What functions/packages are you using? — Gregor Thomas, May 21 '20 at 17:12

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered May 21 '20 at 14:24

1

As linked in a similar question, kable from the knitr package makes it easy to change the names for display without altering the data frame:

knitr::kable(head(iris), 
             col.names = c("Speal length", "Speal Width",
"Petal Length", "Petal Width", "Species"))

answered May 21 '20 at 14:24

Michael Harper

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Thanks. Actually I was trying in without kable. Already shiny application in been built. Now it is difficultr to change the entire logic. – manish p May 21 '20 at 14:26
1

Okay, no problem. Would be worth including such details (i.e. you are using shiny) in your original question so that people can provide the right support – Michael Harper May 21 '20 at 14:36

Change the column names of the data frame only for display purpose

1 Answers1