Rename column with dplyr with functional programming

Question

I want to rename many colums. Now I rewrite the statment for each column:

df <- data.frame(col1 = 1:4, col2 = c('a', 'b', 'c', 'd'), col3 = rep(1,4))
df %>% 
    rename(col1 = col1_new) %>%
    rename(col2 = col2_new) %>%
    rename(col3 = col3_new)

How do I avoid the duplication of the rename statement? Is there a solution using functional programming with R?

Answer 1

It is easier to use setNames than with rename

df %>% 
   setNames(., paste0(names(.), "_new"))
#   col1_new col2_new col3_new
#1        1        a        1
#2        2        b        1
#3        3        c        1
#4        4        d        1

---

If there is no limitation such as all the steps should be done within the %>%, a more easier and general approach is

colnames(df) <- paste0(colnames(df), "_new")