rename-columns

Description

rename-columns adaptor renames existing columns in a datatable.

Maps old (existing) column names to new column names, with the option to discard columns that are not listed in the mapping.

Note that this does not create a second copy of mapped columns with a new name, it simply changes the name of the mapped column.

Inputs

data Type: datatable Required: Yes The datatable containing columns to be renamed.

column names Type: dictionary Required: Yes The mapping of old column names to new ones.

discard unmapped Type: boolean Required: No Specifies whether to discard columns which are not mapped in column names. If unspecified, defaults to False (unmapped columns are kept).

Outputs

data Type: datatable A datatable with the columns renamed.

Examples

Example 1: Default behaviour.

Inputs:

data:

id	code	name
1	GB	United Kingdom
2	TR	Turkey
3	US	United States
4	IND	India
5	IND	India
6	us	United States

column names:

KEY	VALUE
code	country code
name	country name

discard unmapped: null (empty)

Outputs:

data:

id	country code	country name
1	GB	United Kingdom
2	TR	Turkey
3	US	United States
4	IND	India
5	IND	India
6	us	United States

-> Renamed the columns code and name to country code and country name respectively.

Example 2: Discard unmapped columns.

Inputs:

data:

id	code	name
1	GB	United Kingdom
2	TR	Turkey
3	US	United States
4	IND	India
5	IND	India
6	us	United States

column names:

KEY	VALUE
code	country code
name	country name

discard unmapped: True

Outputs:

data:

country code	country name
GB	United Kingdom
TR	Turkey
US	United States
IND	India
IND	India
us	United States

-> Renamed the mapped columns and discared the unmapped column id.

Use Cases

• Preparing datatables for merging by ensuring that the same name is used for the same column in both datasets.

• Creating user-friendly column display names before exporting data to a Microreact project or an external report.

• Making column names more descriptive to ensure proper interpretation.