r: lapply but with dynamic naming - r

Question

Let's say I have 5 datasets in a list (each named df_1, df_2, and so on), each with a variable called cons. I'd like to execute a function over cons in each dataset in the list, and create a new variable whose name has the suffix of the corresponding dataset.
So in the end df_1 will have a variable called something like cons_1 and df_2 will have a variable called cons_2. The problem I run into is the variable looping and trying to create dynamic names.
Any suggestions?

Answer 1

This is actually pretty straightforward:
df_names <- paste("df", 1:5, sep = "_")
cons_names <- paste("cons", 1:5, sep = "_")
for (i in 1:5) {
# get the df from the current env by name
df_i <- get(df_names[i])
# do whatever you need to do and assign the result
df_i[[cons_names[i]]] <- some_operation(df_i)
}
But it would make more sense to keep your data frames in a list to avoid using get, which can be sketchy:
for (i in 1:5) {
df_i[[cons_names[i]]] <- some_operation(df_list[[i]])
}

Answer 2

Using the purrr package, this would be an alternative solution:
library(purrr)
lst <- list(mtcars_1 = mtcars,
mtcars_2 = mtcars,
mtcars_3 = mtcars,
mtcars_4 = mtcars,
mtcars_5 = mtcars)
map(seq_along(lst), function(x) {
lst[[x]][paste0("mpg_", x)] <- some_operation(lst[[x]]['mpg']); lst[[x]]
})
Subset each data frame from the list, create the new mpg variable with the index of the current data frame and perform whatever operation you want on the mpg variable. The result is a list with all data previous data frames with the new variable for each data frame.
Since this new list doesn't have the data frame names, you can always just add them with setNames(newlist, names(lst))