Drop number of columns by vector of column names in R

Question

I was wondering how it was possible to drop a number of columns from a dataframe/datatable using a vector of column names within a pipeline. Up until now I'm trying something like this:

del_cols <- c("colname 1", "colname 2", "colname 4")

new_data <- old_data %>%
     select_(del_cols)

However, this is not working. I also tried defining the columns to be removed as follows:

del_cols <- c("colname 1, colname 2, colname 4")

But this turned up to fail as well.

Any help would be appreciated!

[How to make a great R reproducible example?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5963269) — zx8754, Aug 11 '16 at 11:59
Possible duplicate of [Drop data frame columns by name](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4605206/drop-data-frame-columns-by-name) — symbolrush, Aug 11 '16 at 11:59

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 11 '16 at 12:06

In dplyr, use -one_of

cnames <- c("cyl", "disp", "mpg")
mtcars %>% select(-one_of(cnames)) %>% head

                   hp drat    wt  qsec vs am gear carb
Mazda RX4         110 3.90 2.620 16.46  0  1    4    4
Mazda RX4 Wag     110 3.90 2.875 17.02  0  1    4    4
Datsun 710         93 3.85 2.320 18.61  1  1    4    1
Hornet 4 Drive    110 3.08 3.215 19.44  1  0    3    1
Hornet Sportabout 175 3.15 3.440 17.02  0  0    3    2
Valiant           105 2.76 3.460 20.22  1  0    3    1

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 11 '16 at 11:57

1

This will drop the columns in del_cols

newdata<-old_data[,!names(old_data) %in% del_cols]

answered Aug 11 '16 at 11:57

Jan Sila

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Drop number of columns by vector of column names in R

2 Answers2