Adding string to variable name

Question

I have a variable a=0.01

I then create a matrix b<-matrix(data=NA,ncol=2,nrow=9)

I would like to rename this matrix by adding the value stored in a to its name.

The results should be b_0.01

What is your use case? I bet there is a better alternative to what you are trying to do now. — Roland
– Roland, Commented Aug 30, 2013 at 10:52

Paul Hiemstra · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-30 10:49:36Z

4

You can use assign to get this done:

a = 0.01
b = matrix(data=NA,ncol=2,nrow=9)
assign(sprintf('b_%s', a), b)
b_0.01

In general, I would avoid creating data objects like this. In stead, I would use list's to create, store and manipulate groups of objects.

answered Aug 30, 2013 at 10:49

Paul Hiemstra

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Henrik · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-30 11:47:30Z

3

I bet there are more elegant ways to achieve what you need, but this seems to work:

assign(x = paste("b", a, sep = "_"), value = b)

Edit following @Roland's comment:

rm(b)

Please note that I address your question in a narrow sense. As pointed out by both @Roland and @Paul Hiemstra, there may be more general aspects of the work-flow that could be fruitful to consider as well.

edited Aug 30, 2013 at 11:47

answered Aug 30, 2013 at 10:49

Henrik

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2 Comments

Roland Over a year ago

But that is not renaming. You end up with two objects. I am not sure if a copy is made in memory immediately, but as soon as you modify the new object, you'll need twice the memory. At least include rm(b).

Henrik Over a year ago

@Roland, thanks for your comment! I add rm. I entirely agree that this is not renaming per se - it was just my best alternative. I would be happy to see pure renaming solution. And yes, I support your comment to OP.

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