Beginner using pipes - r

Question

I am a beginner and I'm trying to find the most efficient way to change the name of the first column for many CSV files that I will be creating. Once I have created the CSV files, I am loading them into R as follows:
data <- read.csv('filename.csv')
I have used the names() function to do the name change of a single file:
names(data)[1] <- 'Y'
However, I would like to find the most efficient way of combining/piping this name change to read.csv so the same name change is applied to every file when they are opened. I tried to write a 'simple' function to do this:
addName <- function(data) {
names(data)[1] <- 'Y'
data
}
However, I do not yet fully understand the syntax for writing a function and I can't get this to work.

Answer 1

Note
If you were expecting your original addName function to "mutate" an existing object like so
x <- data.frame(Column_1 = c(1, 2, 3), Column_2 = c("a", "b", "c"))
# Try (unsuccessfully) to change title of "Column_1" to "Y" in x.
addName(x)
# Print x.
x
please be aware that R passes by value rather than by reference, so x itself would remain unchanged:
Column_1 Column_2
1 1 a
2 2 b
3 3 c
Any "mutation" would be achieved by overwriting x with the return value of the function
x <- addName(x)
# Print x.
x
in which case x itself would obviously be changed:
Y Column_2
1 1 a
2 2 b
3 3 c
Answer
Anyway, here's a solution that compactly incorporates pipes (%>% from the magrittr package) and a custom function. Please note that without the linebreaks and comments, which I have added for clarity, this could be condensed to only a few lines of code.
# The dplyr package helps with easy renaming, and it includes the magrittr pipe.
library(dplyr)
# ...
filenames <- c("filename1.csv", "filename2.csv", "filename3.csv")
# A function to take a CSV filename and give back a renamed dataset taken from that file.
addName <- function(filename) {
return(# Read in the named file as a data.frame.
read.csv(file = filename) %>%
# Take the resulting data.frame, and rename its first column as "Y";
# quotes are optional, unless the name contains spaces: "My Column"
# or `My Column` are needed then.
dplyr::rename(Y = 1))
}
# Get a list of all the renamed datasets, as taken by addName() from each of the filenames.
all_files <- sapply(filenames, FUN = addName,
# Keep the list structure, in which each element is a
# data.frame.
simplify = FALSE,
# Name each list element by its filename, to help keep track.
USE.NAMES = TRUE)
In fact, you could easily rename any columns you desire, all in one fell swoop:
dplyr::rename(Y = 1, 'X' = 2, "Z" = 3, "Column 4" = 4, `Column 5` = 5)

Answer 2

This will read a vector of filenames, change the name of the first column of each one to "Y" and store all of the files in a list.
filenames <- c("filename1.csv","filename2.csv")
addName <- function(filename) {
data <- read.csv(filename)
names(data)[1] <- 'Y'
data
}
files <- list()
for (i in 1:length(filenames)) {
files[[i]] <- addName(filenames[i])
}