##assign a value to a name var = 'test1' assign('var_name1', var) var_name1 assign_global_var <- function(){ assign('var_name', var) assign('global_var', var, envir = .GlobalEnv) ##global var1 <- 'var1' var1_global <<- 'var1_global' ##global } assign_global_var() var_name ##not found global_var var1 ##not found var1_global