Replace typo over column names

Question

Suppose the next dataframe:

df <- data.frame("level.3.london"=seq(1,5), "level.2.bogota"=seq(1,5), "level"=seq(1,5))

Is it possible to replace . for an space over the dataframe column names? The idea is to get the next output:

names(df)

Console output:

[1] "level 3 london" "level 2 bogota" "level"

Does this answer your question? [Replacing a string in column names in dataframe in R with grepl](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/42892322/replacing-a-string-in-column-names-in-dataframe-in-r-with-grepl) — zephryl, Feb 28 '22 at 20:50
@PaulS, column names can contain spaces, but it's rarely desirable. — jdobres, Feb 28 '22 at 20:52
Thanks, @jdobres, I have just learned that from your answer! I have been convinced of the contrary for years! — PaulS, Feb 28 '22 at 20:55
I agree with comments here. A better practice would be to replace with underscore i.e. `_` — Sweepy Dodo, Feb 28 '22 at 20:55

jdobres · Accepted Answer · 2022-02-28T21:01:52.830

3

A regular expression and the names function should do what you want, but be warned that column names with spaces can be difficult to work with.

names(df) <- gsub('\\.', ' ', names(df))

If you want to reference those column names, you will need to enclose them in backticks:

df$`level 3 London`

edited Feb 28 '22 at 21:01

answered Feb 28 '22 at 20:51

jdobres

1 Answers1