With rlang 0.4.0 we have curly-curly operators ({{}}) which makes this very easy.
library(dplyr)
library(rlang)
iris1 <- tbl_df(iris)
multipetal <- function(df, n) {
varname <- paste("petal", n , sep=".")
mutate(df, {{varname}} := Petal.Width * n)
}
multipetal(iris1, 4)
# A tibble: 150 x 6
# Sepal.Length Sepal.Width Petal.Length Petal.Width Species petal.4
# <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <fct> <dbl>
# 1 5.1 3.5 1.4 0.2 setosa 0.8
# 2 4.9 3 1.4 0.2 setosa 0.8
# 3 4.7 3.2 1.3 0.2 setosa 0.8
# 4 4.6 3.1 1.5 0.2 setosa 0.8
# 5 5 3.6 1.4 0.2 setosa 0.8
# 6 5.4 3.9 1.7 0.4 setosa 1.6
# 7 4.6 3.4 1.4 0.3 setosa 1.2
# 8 5 3.4 1.5 0.2 setosa 0.8
# 9 4.4 2.9 1.4 0.2 setosa 0.8
#10 4.9 3.1 1.5 0.1 setosa 0.4
# … with 140 more rows
We can also pass quoted/unquoted variable names to be assigned as column names.
multipetal <- function(df, name, n) {
mutate(df, {{name}} := Petal.Width * n)
}
multipetal(iris1, temp, 3)
# A tibble: 150 x 6
# Sepal.Length Sepal.Width Petal.Length Petal.Width Species temp
# <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <fct> <dbl>
# 1 5.1 3.5 1.4 0.2 setosa 0.6
# 2 4.9 3 1.4 0.2 setosa 0.6
# 3 4.7 3.2 1.3 0.2 setosa 0.6
# 4 4.6 3.1 1.5 0.2 setosa 0.6
# 5 5 3.6 1.4 0.2 setosa 0.6
# 6 5.4 3.9 1.7 0.4 setosa 1.2
# 7 4.6 3.4 1.4 0.3 setosa 0.900
# 8 5 3.4 1.5 0.2 setosa 0.6
# 9 4.4 2.9 1.4 0.2 setosa 0.6
#10 4.9 3.1 1.5 0.1 setosa 0.3
# … with 140 more rows
It works the same with
multipetal(iris1, "temp", 3)