How to rename a single column in a data.frame?

Question

I know if I have a data frame with more than 1 column, I can use

colnames(x) <- c("col1","col2")

to rename the columns. How do I do this if it's just one column? Meaning a vector or data frame with only one column in it.

Example:

trSamp <- data.frame(sample(trainer$index, 10000))
head(trSamp )
#   sample.trainer.index..10000.
# 1                      5907862
# 2                      2181266
# 3                      7368504
# 4                      1949790
# 5                      3475174
# 6                      6062879

ncol(trSamp)
# [1] 1
class(trSamp)
# [1] "data.frame"
class(trSamp[1])
# [1] "data.frame"
class(trSamp[,1])
# [1] "numeric"
colnames(trSamp)[2] <- "newname2"
# Error in names(x) <- value : 
#   'names' attribute [2] must be the same length as the vector [1]

Answer 1

colnames(trSamp)[2] <- "newname2"

attempts to set the second column's name. Your object only has one column, so the command throws an error. This should be sufficient:

colnames(trSamp) <- "newname2"

Answer 2

This is a generalized way in which you do not have to remember the exact location of the variable:

# df = dataframe
# old.var.name = The name you don't like anymore
# new.var.name = The name you want to get

names(df)[names(df) == 'old.var.name'] <- 'new.var.name'

This code pretty much does the following:

1. names(df) looks into all the names in the df
2. [names(df) == old.var.name] extracts the variable name you want to check
3. <- 'new.var.name' assigns the new variable name.

Answer 3

colnames(df)[colnames(df) == 'oldName'] <- 'newName'

Answer 4

This is an old question, but it is worth noting that you can now use setnames from the data.table package.

library(data.table)

setnames(DF, "oldName", "newName")

# or since the data.frame in question is just one column: 
setnames(DF, "newName")

# And for reference's sake, in general (more than once column)
nms <- c("col1.name", "col2.name", etc...)
setnames(DF, nms)

Answer 5

This can also be done using Hadley's plyr package, and the rename function.

library(plyr) 
df <- data.frame(foo=rnorm(1000)) 
df <- rename(df,c('foo'='samples'))

You can rename by the name (without knowing the position) and perform multiple renames at once. After doing a merge, for example, you might end up with:

  letterid id.x id.y
1       70    2    1
2      116    6    5
3      116    6    4
4      116    6    3
5      766   14    9
6      766   14   13

Which you can then rename in one step using:

letters <- rename(letters,c("id.x" = "source", "id.y" = "target"))

  letterid source target
1       70      2      1
2      116      6      5
3      116      6      4
4      116      6      3
5      766     14      9
6      766     14     13

Answer 6

I think the best way of renaming columns is by using the dplyr package like this:

require(dplyr)
df = rename(df, new_col01 = old_col01, new_col02 = old_col02, ...)

It works the same for renaming one or many columns in any dataset.

Answer 7

I find that the most convenient way to rename a single column is using dplyr::rename_at :

library(dplyr)
cars %>% rename_at("speed",~"new") %>% head     
cars %>% rename_at(vars(speed),~"new") %>% head
cars %>% rename_at(1,~"new") %>% head

#   new dist
# 1   4    2
# 2   4   10
# 3   7    4
# 4   7   22
# 5   8   16
# 6   9   10

• works well in pipe chaines
• convenient when names are stored in variables
• works with a name or an column index
• clear and compact

Answer 8

I like the next style for rename dataframe column names one by one.

colnames(df)[which(colnames(df) == 'old_colname')] <- 'new_colname'

where

which(colnames(df) == 'old_colname')

returns by the index of the specific column.

Answer 9

You can use the rename.vars in the gdata package.

library(gdata)
df <- rename.vars(df, from = "oldname", to = "newname")

This is particularly useful where you have more than one variable name to change or you want to append or pre-pend some text to the variable names, then you can do something like:

df <- rename.vars(df, from = c("old1", "old2", "old3", 
         to = c("new1", "new2", "new3"))

For an example of appending text to a subset of variables names see: https://stackoverflow.com/a/28870000/180892

Answer 10

Let df be the dataframe you have with col names myDays and temp. If you want to rename "myDays" to "Date",

library(plyr)
rename(df,c("myDays" = "Date"))

or with pipe, you can

dfNew      <- df %>% 
  plyr::rename(c("myDays" = "Date"))

Answer 11

This is likely already out there, but I was playing with renaming fields while searching out a solution and tried this on a whim. Worked for my purposes.

Table1$FieldNewName <- Table1$FieldOldName
Table1$FieldOldName <- NULL

Edit begins here....

This works as well.

df <- rename(df, c("oldColName" = "newColName"))

Answer 12

Try:

colnames(x)[2] <- 'newname2'

Answer 13

You could also try 'upData' from 'Hmisc' package.

library(Hmisc)

trSamp = upData(trSamp, rename=c(sample.trainer.index..10000. = 'newname2'))

Answer 14

If you know that your dataframe has only one column, you can use: names(trSamp) <- "newname2"

Answer 15

The OP's question has been well and truly answered. However, here's a trick that may be useful in some situations: partial matching of the column name, irrespective of its position in a dataframe:

Partial matching on the name:

d <- data.frame(name1 = NA, Reported.Cases..WHO..2011. = NA, name3 = NA)
##   name1 Reported.Cases..WHO..2011. name3
## 1    NA                         NA    NA
names(d)[grepl("Reported", names(d))] <- "name2"
##   name1 name2 name3
## 1    NA    NA    NA

Another example: partial matching on the presence of "punctuation":

d <- data.frame(name1 = NA, Reported.Cases..WHO..2011. = NA, name3 = NA)
##   name1 Reported.Cases..WHO..2011. name3
## 1    NA                         NA    NA
names(d)[grepl("[[:punct:]]", names(d))] <- "name2"
##   name1 name2 name3
## 1    NA    NA    NA

These were examples I had to deal with today, I thought might be worth sharing.

Answer 16

I would simply add a new column to the data frame with the name I want and get the data for it from the existing column. like this:

dataf$value=dataf$Article1Order

then I remove the old column! like this:

dataf$Article1Order<-NULL

This code might seem silly! But it works perfectly...

Answer 17

I found colnames() argument easier https://www.rdocumentation.org/packages/base/versions/3.6.2/topics/row%2Bcolnames

select some column from the data frame

df <- data.frame(df[, c( "hhid","b1005", "b1012_imp", "b3004a")])

and rename the selected column in order,

colnames(df) <- c("hhid", "income", "cost", "credit")

check the names and the values to be sure

names(df);head(df)

Answer 18

We can use rename_with to rename columns with a function (stringr functions, for example).

Consider the following data df_1:

df_1 <- data.frame(
  x = replicate(n = 3, expr = rnorm(n = 3, mean = 10, sd = 1)), 
  y = sample(x = 1:2, size = 10, replace = TRUE)
)

names(df_1)

#[1] "x.1" "x.2" "x.3" "y" 

Rename all variables with dplyr::everything():

library(tidyverse)

df_1 %>% 
  rename_with(.data = ., .cols = everything(.), 
              .fn = str_replace, pattern = '.*', 
              replacement = str_c('var', seq_along(.), sep = '_')) %>% 
  names()

#[1] "var_1" "var_2" "var_3" "var_4"

Rename by name particle with some dplyr verbs (starts_with, ends_with, contains, matches, ...).

Example with . (x variables):

df_1 %>% 
  rename_with(.data = ., .cols = contains('.'), 
              .fn = str_replace, pattern = '.*', 
              replacement = str_c('var', seq_along(.), sep = '_')) %>% 
  names()

#[1] "var_1" "var_2" "var_3" "y"

Rename by class with many functions of class test, like is.integer, is.numeric, is.factor...

Example with is.integer (y):

df_1 %>% 
  rename_with(.data = ., .cols = is.integer, 
              .fn = str_replace, pattern = '.*', 
              replacement = str_c('var', seq_along(.), sep = '_')) %>% 
  names()

#[1] "x.1"   "x.2"   "x.3"   "var_1"

The warning:

Warning messages: 1: In stri_replace_first_regex(string, pattern, fix_replacement(replacement), : longer object length is not a multiple of shorter object length 2: In names[cols] <- .fn(names[cols], ...) : number of items to replace is not a multiple of replacement length

It is not relevant, as it is just an inconsistency of seq_along(.) with the replace function.

Answer 19

I would simply change a column name to the dataset with the new name I want with the following code: names(dataset)[index_value] <- "new_col_name"

Answer 20

library(dplyr)
rename(data, de=de.y)