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Generates sequentially numbered variable names, all starting with the same prefix, usually in conjunction with reading data values into R. The advantage over the standard R function paste0
is that to
maintains equal widths of the names, such as m08 instead of m8 if some values are m10 or larger up to m99.
to(prefix, until, from=1, same_size=TRUE, ...)
prefix |
Character string that begins each variable name. |
until |
Last name in the sequence, the one with the last number. |
from |
First name in the sequence, the one with the initial number. |
same_size |
If |
... |
Other parameter values. |
Some data sets, particularly those from surveys, have sequentially numbered variable names, each beginning with the same prefix, such as the first later of the name of a set of related attitude items. This function generates the string of such variable names, generally intended for use in a read
statement for reading the data and then naming the variables, or for a subsequent assignment of the names with a names
. Relies upon the R paste
function.
David W. Gerbing (Portland State University; gerbing@pdx.edu)
paste
.
# generate: "m01" "m02" "m03" "m04" "m05" "m06" "m07" "m08" "m09" "m10"
to("m", 10)
# generate: "m1" "m2" "m3" "m4" "m5" "m6" "m7" "m8" "m9" "m10"
to("m",10, same_size=FALSE)
# equivalent to standard R function
paste0("m", 1:10)
# generate a 10 x 10 data frame
d <- data.frame(matrix(rnorm(100), nrow=10))
# name the variables in the data frame
names(d) <- to("m", 10)
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