Assign names to vector entries without assigning the vector a variable name?

Question

In R, is it possible to assign names to components of a vector without first assigning that vector to a variable name? The normal way is obviously:

z <- 1         


        

Answer 1

Always thought this was a little cleaner, also don't need an additional package:

z <- c(a=1, b=2, c=3)
# z
# a b c 
# 1 2 3 

Answer 2

How about using setNames(), which seems even cleaner/clearer than your suggested ideal?

z <- setNames(1:3, c("a", "b", "c"))
# z
# a b c 
# 1 2 3