Get or Set names of Elements of an Object in R Programming - names() Function

Last Updated : 15 Jul, 2025
names() function in R Language is used to get or set the name of an Object. This function takes object i.e. vector, matrix or data frame as argument along with the value that is to be assigned as name to the object. The length of the value vector passed must be exactly equal to the length of the object to be named.
Syntax: names(x) <- value Parameters: x: Object i.e. vector, matrix, data frame, etc. value: Names to be assigned to x
Example 1: Python3 1== 
# R program to assign name to an object

# Creating a vector
x <- c(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

# Assigning names using names() function
names(x) <- c("gfg1", "gfg2", "gfg3", "gfg4", "gfg5")

# Printing name vector that is assigned 
names(x)

# Printing updated vector
print(x)
Output: 
[1] "gfg1" "gfg2" "gfg3" "gfg4" "gfg5"
gfg1 gfg2 gfg3 gfg4 gfg5 
   1    2    3    4    5
Example 2: Python3 1== 
# R program to get names of an Object

# Importing Library 
library(datasets) 
  
# Importing dataset 
head(airquality) 

# Calling names() function to get names
names(airquality)
Output: 
  Ozone Solar.R Wind Temp Month Day
1    41     190  7.4   67     5   1
2    36     118  8.0   72     5   2
3    12     149 12.6   74     5   3
4    18     313 11.5   62     5   4
5    NA      NA 14.3   56     5   5
6    28      NA 14.9   66     5   6
[1] "Ozone"   "Solar.R" "Wind"    "Temp"    "Month"   "Day"
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