Here is another way of going about it (presuming we are correct about what you are after): i=1:10 j=1:10 unlist(lapply(i, function(x) paste("X", x, j, sep="_"))) Tyler -- View this message in context: http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/create-variables-with-indexes-tp2288119p2288171.html Sent from the R help mailing list archive at Nabble.com.