Generate a column name that does not already exist in a list of columns

Generates a unique column name by appending an integer to a prefix.

Usage

.get_unused_column(existing_columns, column_prefix, column_suffix = "_#")

Arguments

existing_columns

Existing character vector/list of columns. We want a column name that does not already exist among these column names.

column_prefix

Character prefix for the column name

column_suffix

If a column named column_prefix already exists then column_suffix is appended to column_prefix, replacing "#" with an integer, to try to find an unused column name. For example, if column_prefix = "output" and column_suffix = "_#", then "output" will be returned if such a column doesn't exist. If it does exist, then "output_2", "output_3", etc. will be tested until an unused column name is found.

Value

Character string of an unused column name (e.g., "prefix_2", "prefix_3")

Errors

• missing_tag: Raised when `column_suffix` does not contain the `"#"` placeholder character, which is required for generating numbered column name variants.