A quick function for creating a convenient variable reference table in R

variable_list.R

# Quick script to make a more readable list of variables and attributes for dataframes in RStudio.
# Gives variable number, name, first observation, and the variable's class and returns a dataframe
# Modeled on SPSS's Variable View

variable_list <- function(x) {
    data <- x[1,]
    data <- t(data)
    vars <- row.names(data)
    num <- 1:length(vars)
    data <- as.data.frame(cbind(num,vars,data))
    names(data) <- c("variable_number", "variable_name", "first_observation")
    row.names(data) <- NULL
    class <- sapply(x, class)
    data$class <- class
    data <- data[,c(2,1,4,3)]
    data
}