[R] How to change ONLY the first character of each variable name

[Mark Na]

Dear R-helpers,

I would like to adapt the following code

> names(data)<-sub("M","MOLE",names(data))

which changes any occurrence of "M" (in my variable names) to "MOLE"

such that it ONLY operates on the first character of each variable
name, i.e. M will only be changed to MOLE if it's the first character
of a variable.

I would appreciate any help you might provide. Thanks!

Mark Na