How to automatically transform columns into objects in R?

Question

I need that each column of my dataset become an object named with that column's name and containing its values as the object value.

I know how to do the process manually (see "Process question" heading below), but I need to automatize and generalize the process with as few rows as possible.

Example data

library(tibble)
df <- tibble(a = 1, b = 2, c = 3, d = 4)

Input

> df
# A tibble: 1 x 4
      a     b     c     d
  <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl>
1     1     2     3     4

Process Question

How to automatize this part?

a <- df$a
b <- df$b
c <- df$c
d <- df$d

Output

> a;b;c;d
[1] 1
[1] 2
[1] 3
[1] 4

Why do you need to do this? Folks will often caution against putting lots of objects into the global environment if those objects make sense being held together in some larger structure—that's often a list, of which data frames are a type — camille
– camille, Commented Feb 13, 2022 at 18:07
Now that you mention it, I see I can accomplish my goals without the need to have separated objects. I can directly use them inside the list or dataframe as you mentioned. Thanks for opening my eyes for me that! and now, it seems obvious. I was just fixed in the mindset that I needed the objects outside the dataframe. — Ruam Pimentel
– Ruam Pimentel, Commented Feb 13, 2022 at 21:38

akrun · Accepted Answer · 2022-02-13 16:31:30Z

4

tibble/data.frame are list. So, we can use list2env (or use attach)

list2env(df, .GlobalEnv)

-checking

> a
[1] 1
> b
[1] 2

answered Feb 13, 2022 at 16:31

akrun

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