label_from_names: Derive variable labels from column names name<sep>label

In spicy: Descriptive Statistics and Data Management Tools

Derive variable labels from column names ⁠name<sep>label⁠

Description

Splits each column name at the first occurrence of sep, renames the column to the part before sep (the name), and assigns the part after sep as a labelled::var_label(). This works even if the label itself contains the separator.

Usage

label_from_names(df, sep = ". ")

Arguments

df	A data.frame or tibble with column names of the form ⁠"name<sep>label"⁠ (e.g. "name. label"). (by default from LimeSurvey).
sep	Character string used as separator between name and label. Default is ". " (LimeSurvey's default), but any literal string can be used.

Details

This function is especially useful for LimeSurvey CSV exports when using Export results → Export format: CSV → Headings: Question code & question text, where column names look like "code. question text". In this case the default separator is ". ".

Value

A base tibble with column names equal to the names (before sep) and var_label attributes equal to the labels (after sep).

Examples

# Example with LimeSurvey-style column names
df <- data.frame(
  "age. Age of respondent" = c(25, 30),
  "score. Total score. Manually computed." = c(12, 14),
  check.names = FALSE
)

# sep = ". " by default (LimeSurvey)
out <- label_from_names(df)
labelled::var_label(out)

# Example with a custom separator ("|")
df2 <- data.frame(
  "id|Identifier" = 1:3,
  "score|Total score" = c(10, 20, 30),
  check.names = FALSE
)
out2 <- label_from_names(df2, sep = "|")
labelled::var_label(out2)

spicy documentation built on March 14, 2026, 5:06 p.m.