R-devel: rownames of a data.frame

Martin Maechler · 2006-12-05T17:20:12Z

Gregor Gorjanc bfro.uni-lj.si> writes: > > Hello! > > Data.frames have new rownames funcionality, however in use of colnames in R-devel "changes" this. Here is the example: > > > df1 > attributes(df1) > $names > [1] "letters.1.5." > > $row.names > [1] 1 2 3 4 5 > > $class > [1] "data.frame" > > > colnames(df1) > attributes(df1) > $names > [1] "bla" > > $row.names > [1] "1" "2" "3" "4" "5" > > $class > [1] "data.frame" >

Martin Maechler

Tue, Dec 5, 2006 9:20 AM

Gregor Gorjanc <gregor.gorjanc <at> bfro.uni-lj.si> writes:

because  colnames() and rownames() work via dimnames(), and so do
 "colnames<-" and "rownames<-" ---  
I think it would be unwise to change this, since it's well documented property
of these functions.

As you noted yourself,  using  names() and "names<-"
i.e.,
  names(df1) <- "bla"
in the example above, is the recommended way for data frames and does not change
the rownames to character.

R-devel: rownames of a data.frame

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