Create dynamic R dataframe names in for loop - multiple names in same code line

Question

I am trying to create dynamic dataframe names within a for loop. I am using the paste function in R to write the dataframe names. see the example below:

for (i in 1:3){
 paste("Data",i,sep="") <- data.frame(colone=c(1,2,3,4),coltwo=c(5,6,7,8))
 paste("New data",i,sep="") <- paste("Data",i,sep="") %>% mutate(colthree=(colone+coltwo)*i) %>% select(colthree)
}

The code above won't work as R doesn't understand paste as a dataframe name. I have found some solutions using the assign function which could help with my 1st line of code using: assign(paste("Data",i,sep=""),data.frame(colone=c(1,2,3,4),coltwo=c(5,6,7,8))) but I don't know what to do with the 2nd line where the paste function is used twice to refer to multiple dataframes. Not sure using a nested assign function works and even if it does the code will look terrible with more complex code.

I know there might be ideas of how to combine the 2 lines above into a single assign statement or other similar solutions but is there any way to refer to 2 dynamic dataframe names within a single line of code as per my example above?

Many thanks :)

Answer 1

If you need both data frames ("Data i" and "New Data i") you can use:

for (i in 1:3){
  assign(paste("New data",i,sep=""), data.frame(assign(paste("Data",i,sep=""),data.frame(colone=c(1,2,3,4),coltwo=c(5,6,7,8))) %>% mutate(colthree=(colone+coltwo)*i) %>% select(colthree)))
}

If you only want "New Data i" use:

for (i in 1:3){
  assign(paste("New data",i,sep=""), data.frame(colone=c(1,2,3,4),coltwo=c(5,6,7,8))) %>% mutate(colthree=(colone+coltwo)*i) %>% select(colthree)
}