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rr-rownames

Rename rownames

I would like to rename row names by removing common part of a row name

          a b  c
CDA_Part  1 4  4
CDZ_Part  3 4  4
CDX_Part  1 4  4

result

     a b  c
CDA  1 4  4
CDZ  3 4  4
CDX  1 4  4
Solution

  • 1.Create a minimal reproducible example:

    df <- data.frame(a = 1:3, b = 4:6)
rownames(df) <- c("CDA_Part", "CDZ_Part", "CDX_Part")

df

    Returns:

             a b
CDA_Part 1 4
CDZ_Part 2 5
CDX_Part 3 6

    2.Suggested solution using base Rs gsub:

    rownames(df) <- gsub("_Part", "", rownames(df), fixed=TRUE)

df

    Returns:

        a b
CDA 1 4
CDZ 2 5
CDX 3 6

    Explanation:

    gsub uses regex to identify and replace parts of strings. The three first arguments are:

    • pattern the pattern to be replaced - i.e. "_Part"
    • replacement the string to be used as replacement - i.e. the empty string ""
    • x the string we want to replace something in - i.e. the rownames

    An additional argument (not in the first 3):

    • fixed indicating if pattern is meant to be a regular expression or "just" an ordinary string - i.e. just a string