You can use the following syntax to rename a column of a data frame by index position using dplyr:
Method 1: Rename One Column by Index
#rename column in index position 1 df %>% rename(new_name1 = 1)
Method 2: Rename Multiple Columns by Index
#rename column in index positions 1, 2, and 3 df %>% rename(new_name1 = 1, new_name2 = 2, new_name3 = 3)
The following examples show how to use this syntax in practice.
Example 1: Rename One Column by Index
The following code shows how to use the rename() function to rename one column by index position:
library(dplyr) #create data frame df frame(team=c('A', 'A', 'A', 'A', 'B', 'B', 'B', 'B'), points=c(12, 14, 19, 24, 24, 22, 30, 9), assists=c(4, 6, 6, 8, 3, 7, 8, 11)) #rename column in index position 1 df % rename(team_new = 1) #view updated data frame df team_new points assists 1 A 12 4 2 A 14 6 3 A 19 6 4 A 24 8 5 B 24 3 6 B 22 7 7 B 30 8 8 B 9 11
Notice that the first column name was changed from team to team_new and all other column names remained the same.
Example 2: Rename Multiple Columns by Index
The following code shows how to use the rename() function to rename multiple columns in the data frame by index position:
library(dplyr) #create data frame df frame(team=c('A', 'A', 'A', 'A', 'B', 'B', 'B', 'B'), points=c(12, 14, 19, 24, 24, 22, 30, 9), assists=c(4, 6, 6, 8, 3, 7, 8, 11)) #rename column in index position 1 df% rename(team_new = 1, assists_new = 3) #view updated data frame df team_new points assists_new 1 A 12 4 2 A 14 6 3 A 19 6 4 A 24 8 5 B 24 3 6 B 22 7 7 B 30 8 8 B 9 11
The column names in index position 1 and 3 changed, while the column name in index position 2 remained the same.
Additional Resources
The following tutorials explain how to perform other common functions in dplyr:
How to Select Columns by Index Using dplyr
How to Remove Rows Using dplyr
How to Replace NA with Zero in dplyr