R help - Apr 2007 - Dealing with data frame column names beginning with a numeric

I wish to set up a simple function using boxplot so that it will be
available to someone using R for Windows.  (I myself use Linux.)

The way the data is organised makes it convenient to use the boxplot
function in a manner similar to this example given in the help.

>      mat <- cbind(Uni05 = (1:100)/21, Norm = rnorm(100),
+                   T5 = rt(100, df = 5), Gam2 = rgamma(100, shape =
2))
>      boxplot(data.frame(mat), main = "boxplot(data.frame(mat), main =
...)")
If one of those columns had a numeric beginning to its name, such as:
> colnames(mat)[3] <- "5T"
and then using boxplot the same way, it will prepend an "X" to the
column name "5T" in the changing to a dataframe.

I know I could use boxplot with a formula with the dataframe reshaped
which would get round the problem, but I wanted to introduce as few
new concepts as possible for someone new to using R.  So the question
is: Is there a way to get such a name without anything prepended into
boxplot when used this way?

I've been led to understand that some Windows' plotting devices lend
themselves to simpler editing than in Linux, so perhaps there is a
simple way to remove the "X" from the plot afterwards.  I know it
could be done with a postscript device by editing the file with a text
editor but that's not simple with Windows.

Ideas?

-- 
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.   
   ___    Patrick Connolly   
 {~._.~}          		 Great minds discuss ideas    
 _( Y )_  	  	        Middle minds discuss events 
(:_~*~_:) 	       		 Small minds discuss people  
 (_)-(_)  	                           ..... Anon
	  
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Try this:

boxplot(data.frame(mat), names = colnames(mat))

On 4/16/07, Patrick Connolly <p_connolly at ihug.co.nz>
wrote:
> I wish to set up a simple function using boxplot so that it will be
> available to someone using R for Windows.  (I myself use Linux.)
>
> The way the data is organised makes it convenient to use the boxplot
> function in a manner similar to this example given in the help.
>
>
> >      mat <- cbind(Uni05 = (1:100)/21, Norm = rnorm(100),
> +                   T5 = rt(100, df = 5), Gam2 = rgamma(100, shape = 2))
> >      boxplot(data.frame(mat), main = "boxplot(data.frame(mat),
main = ...)")
>
> If one of those columns had a numeric beginning to its name, such as:
>
> > colnames(mat)[3] <- "5T"
>
> and then using boxplot the same way, it will prepend an "X" to
the
> column name "5T" in the changing to a dataframe.
>
> I know I could use boxplot with a formula with the dataframe reshaped
> which would get round the problem, but I wanted to introduce as few
> new concepts as possible for someone new to using R.  So the question
> is: Is there a way to get such a name without anything prepended into
> boxplot when used this way?
>
> I've been led to understand that some Windows' plotting devices
lend
> themselves to simpler editing than in Linux, so perhaps there is a
> simple way to remove the "X" from the plot afterwards.  I know it
> could be done with a postscript device by editing the file with a text
> editor but that's not simple with Windows.
>
> Ideas?
>
> --
> ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
>   ___    Patrick Connolly
>  {~._.~}                         Great minds discuss ideas
>  _( Y )_                        Middle minds discuss events
> (:_~*~_:)                        Small minds discuss people
>  (_)-(_)                                   ..... Anon
>
> ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>

On 4/16/2007 4:22 PM, Patrick Connolly wrote:
> I wish to set up a simple function using boxplot so that it will be
> available to someone using R for Windows.  (I myself use Linux.)
> 
> The way the data is organised makes it convenient to use the boxplot
> function in a manner similar to this example given in the help.
> 
> 
>>      mat <- cbind(Uni05 = (1:100)/21, Norm = rnorm(100),
> +                   T5 = rt(100, df = 5), Gam2 = rgamma(100, shape = 2))
>>      boxplot(data.frame(mat), main = "boxplot(data.frame(mat),
main = ...)")
> 
> If one of those columns had a numeric beginning to its name, such as:
> 
>> colnames(mat)[3] <- "5T"
> 
> and then using boxplot the same way, it will prepend an "X" to
the
> column name "5T" in the changing to a dataframe.
> 
> I know I could use boxplot with a formula with the dataframe reshaped
> which would get round the problem, but I wanted to introduce as few
> new concepts as possible for someone new to using R.  So the question
> is: Is there a way to get such a name without anything prepended into
> boxplot when used this way?
> 
> I've been led to understand that some Windows' plotting devices
lend
> themselves to simpler editing than in Linux, so perhaps there is a
> simple way to remove the "X" from the plot afterwards.  I know it
> could be done with a postscript device by editing the file with a text
> editor but that's not simple with Windows.
> 
> Ideas?
The name change happens in the conversion to a dataframe, so why not 
change the name afterwards?  That is:

df <- data.frame(mat)
names(df)[3] <- "5T"
boxplot(df, main="blah blah blah")

Duncan Murdoch