frename returns a renamed shallow-copy, setrename renames objects by reference. These functions also work with objects other than data frames that have a 'names' attribute. relabel and setrelabel do that same for labels attached to data frame columns.
.x: for (f/set)rename: an R object with a "names" attribute. For (set)relabel: a named list.
...: either tagged vector expressions of the form name = newname / name = newlabel (frename also supports newname = name), a (named) vector of names/labels, or a single function (+ optional arguments to the function) applied to all names/labels (of columns/elements selected in cols).
cols: If ... is a function, select a subset of columns/elements to rename/relabel using names, indices, a logical vector or a function applied to the columns if .x is a list (e.g. is.numeric).
.nse: logical. TRUE allows non-standard evaluation of tagged vector expressions, allowing you to supply new names without quotes. Set to FALSE for programming or passing vectors of names.
attrn: character. Name of attribute to store labels or retrieve labels from.
Returns
.x renamed / relabelled. setrename and setrelabel return .x invisibly.
Note
Note that both relabel and setrelabel modify .x by reference. This is because labels are attached to columns themselves, making it impossible to avoid permanent modification by taking a shallow copy of the encompassing list / data.frame. On the other hand frename makes a shallow copy whereas setrename also modifies by reference.
See Also
Data Frame Manipulation , Collapse Overview
Examples
## Using tagged expressionshead(frename(iris, Sepal.Length = SL, Sepal.Width = SW, Petal.Length = PL, Petal.Width = PW))head(frename(iris, Sepal.Length ="S L", Sepal.Width ="S W", Petal.Length ="P L", Petal.Width ="P W"))## Since v2.0.0 this is also supportedhead(frename(iris, SL = Sepal.Length, SW = Sepal.Width, PL = Petal.Length, PW = Petal.Width))## Using a functionhead(frename(iris, tolower))head(frename(iris, tolower, cols =1:2))head(frename(iris, tolower, cols = is.numeric))head(frename(iris, paste,"new", sep ="_", cols =1:2))## Using vectors of names and programmingnewname ="sepal_length"head(frename(iris, Sepal.Length = newname, .nse =FALSE))newnames = c("sepal_length","sepal_width")head(frename(iris, newnames, cols =1:2))newnames = c(Sepal.Length ="sepal_length", Sepal.Width ="sepal_width")head(frename(iris, newnames, .nse =FALSE))# Since v2.0.0, this works as wellnewnames = c(sepal_length ="Sepal.Length", sepal_width ="Sepal.Width")head(frename(iris, newnames, .nse =FALSE))## Renaming by reference# setrename(iris, tolower)# head(iris)# rm(iris)# etc...## Relabelling (by reference)# namlab(relabel(wlddev, PCGDP = "GDP per Capita", LIFEEX = "Life Expectancy"))# namlab(relabel(wlddev, toupper))