R help - Jan 2013 - Naming an object after another object...can it be done?

Hello R-helpers,

I have run the following line of code:

x<-dat$col

and now I would like to assign names(x) to be "dat$col" (e.g., a
character
string equal to the column name that I assigned to x).

What I am trying to do is to assign columns in my dataframe to new objects
called x and y. Then I will use x and y within a new function to make plots
with informative axis labels (e.g., "dat$col" instead of
"x". So, for
example, I would like to plot (y~x,xlab=names(x)) and have "dat$col"
printed in the x-axis label. I can do this all manually, by typing

names(x)<- "dat$col)

but I'd like to do it with non-specific code within my function so I
don't
have to type the variable names manually each time.

Many thanks,

Mark Na

	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

are you looking for assign()?
On Jan 17, 2013 1:56 PM, <mtb954@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello R-helpers,
>
> I have run the following line of code:
>
> x<-dat$col
>
> and now I would like to assign names(x) to be "dat$col" (e.g., a
character
> string equal to the column name that I assigned to x).
>
> What I am trying to do is to assign columns in my dataframe to new objects
> called x and y. Then I will use x and y within a new function to make plots
> with informative axis labels (e.g., "dat$col" instead of
"x". So, for
> example, I would like to plot (y~x,xlab=names(x)) and have
"dat$col"
> printed in the x-axis label. I can do this all manually, by typing
>
> names(x)<- "dat$col)
>
> but I'd like to do it with non-specific code within my function so I
don't
> have to type the variable names manually each time.
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Mark Na
>
>         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help@r-project.org 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.
>
	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

You are thinking that 'names' does something different
than it does.  What you seem to be after is the
deparse-substitute idiom:

dat <- data.frame(Col1=1:10, Col2=rnorm(10))
myPlotFun <- function(x, y) {
    plot(y ~ x, xlab=deparse(substitute(x)), ylab=deparse(substitute(y)))
}
myPlotFun(dat$Col1, dat$Col2)


Pat

On 17/01/2013 18:53, mtb954 at gmail.com wrote:
> Hello R-helpers,
>
> I have run the following line of code:
>
> x<-dat$col
>
> and now I would like to assign names(x) to be "dat$col" (e.g., a
character
> string equal to the column name that I assigned to x).
>
> What I am trying to do is to assign columns in my dataframe to new objects
> called x and y. Then I will use x and y within a new function to make plots
> with informative axis labels (e.g., "dat$col" instead of
"x". So, for
> example, I would like to plot (y~x,xlab=names(x)) and have
"dat$col"
> printed in the x-axis label. I can do this all manually, by typing
>
> names(x)<- "dat$col)
>
> but I'd like to do it with non-specific code within my function so I
don't
> have to type the variable names manually each time.
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Mark Na
>
> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org 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.
>
-- 
Patrick Burns
pburns at pburns.seanet.com
twitter: @portfolioprobe
http://www.portfolioprobe.com/blog
http://www.burns-stat.com
(home of 'Some hints for the R beginner'
and 'The R Inferno')