Changing some column name in R

Question

I would like to change the column names of my 4th and 5th column with this code, but it is not working.

colnames(df[,4:5]) <- paste(colnames(df[,4:5]), "13", sep= "_")

It works if I remove [,4:5] and change the column names for the whole data frame.

colnames(df) <- paste(colnames(df), "13", sep= "_")

but my desired output is just to change the 4th and 5th column. Thanks.

try ```colnames(df)[4:5] = paste(colnames(df)[4:5], "13", sep="_")```. — user438383, Jan 13 '21 at 10:12
@user438383 has it. You want to assign values to the `colnames` vector, not the data frame row. — neilfws, Jan 13 '21 at 10:13

mhovd · Answer 1 · 2021-01-13T10:13:55.023

It is much easier to do with dplyr::rename().

Simply use df %>% rename(new_name = old_name), and you're done!

Here is an example

library(dplyr)
head(mtcars, n = 2)
              mpg cyl disp  hp drat    wt  qsec vs am gear carb
Mazda RX4      21   6  160 110  3.9 2.620 16.46  0  1    4    4
Mazda RX4 Wag  21   6  160 110  3.9 2.875 17.02  0  1    4    4

mtcars_new = mtcars %>% rename(new_mpg = mpg)

head(mtcars_new, n = 2)
              new_mpg cyl disp  hp drat    wt  qsec vs am gear carb
Mazda RX4          21   6  160 110  3.9 2.620 16.46  0  1    4    4
Mazda RX4 Wag      21   6  160 110  3.9 2.875 17.02  0  1    4    4

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 13 '21 at 10:45

0

You can try replace like below

setNames(df, replace(names(df), 4:5, paste(names(df)[4:5], "13", sep = "_")))

answered Jan 13 '21 at 10:45

ThomasIsCoding

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Changing some column name in R

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