How to Use the relocate() Function in dplyr (With Examples)

You can use the relocate() function from the dplyr package in R to change the column positions in a data frame.

You can use the following methods to change the column positions:

Method 1: Move One Column to Front

#move 'x' column to front
df %>% relocate(x)

Method 2: Move Several Columns to Front

#move 'x' and 'y' columns to front
df %>% relocate(x, y)

Method 3: Move Column to Position After Another Column

#move 'x' column to position after 'y' column
df %>% relocate(x, .after=y)

Method 4: Move Column to Position Before Another Column

#move 'x' column to position before 'y' column
df %>% relocate(x, .before=y)

The following examples show how to each method with the following data frame:

#create dataset
df <- data.frame(team=c('A', 'A', 'A', 'B', 'B', 'C', 'C'),
                 points=c(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7),
                 assists=c(1, 5, 2, 3, 2, 2, 0),
                 rebounds=c(6, 6, 10, 12, 8, 8, 3))

#view dataset
df

  team points assists rebounds
1    A      1       1        6
2    A      2       5        6
3    A      3       2       10
4    B      4       3       12
5    B      5       2        8
6    C      6       2        8
7    C      7       0        3

Example 1: Move One Column to Front

The following code shows how to use the relocate() function to move one column to the front:

#move 'assists' column to front
df %>% relocate(assists)

  assists team points rebounds
1       1    A      1        6
2       5    A      2        6
3       2    A      3       10
4       3    B      4       12
5       2    B      5        8
6       2    C      6        8
7       0    C      7        3

Example 2: Move Several Columns to Front

The following code shows how to use the relocate() function to move multiple columns to the front:

#move 'points' and 'assists' to front
df %>% relocate(points, assists)

  points assists team rebounds
1      1       1    A        6
2      2       5    A        6
3      3       2    A       10
4      4       3    B       12
5      5       2    B        8
6      6       2    C        8
7      7       0    C        3

Example 3: Move Column to Position After Another Column

The following code shows how to use the relocate() function to move one column to a specific position after another column:

#move 'team' column to after 'assists' column
df %>% relocate(team, .after=assists)

  points assists team rebounds
1      1       1    A        6
2      2       5    A        6
3      3       2    A       10
4      4       3    B       12
5      5       2    B        8
6      6       2    C        8
7      7       0    C        3

Example 4: Move Column to Position Before Another Column

The following code shows how to use the relocate() function to move one column to a specific position before another column:

#move 'team' column to before 'rebounds' column
df %>% relocate(team, .before=rebounds)

  points assists team rebounds
1      1       1    A        6
2      2       5    A        6
3      3       2    A       10
4      4       3    B       12
5      5       2    B        8
6      6       2    C        8
7      7       0    C        3