How to fix spaces in column names of a data.frame (remove spaces, inject dots)?

Question

After importing a file, I always try try to remove spaces from the column names to make referral to column names easier.

Is there a better way to do this other then

Answer 1

Just assign to names(ctm2):

  names(ctm2) <- c("itsy", "bitsy", "eeny", "meeny")

or in data-driven way:

  names(ctm2) <- paste("myColumn", 1:ncol(ctm2), sep="")

Another possibility is to edit your source file...