the target string vector I want is like this:
a1=paste0('2001',month.abb)
a2=paste0('2002',month.abb)
a3=paste0('2003',month.abb)
a4=paste0('2004',month.abb)
a5=paste0('2005',month.abb)
a6=paste0('2006',month.abb)
a7=paste0('2007',month.abb)
a8=paste0('2008',month.abb)
a9=paste0('2009',month.abb)
a10=paste0('2010',month.abb)
c(a1,a2,a3,a4,a5,a6,a7,a8,a9,a10)
Is there an easier way to do it?
You can pass the sequence 2001 to 2010 to sapply, and tell it to paste0 the vector month.abb to each element. This actually produces a 12 x 10 matrix of the strings, so if you want them as a vector, just wrap the call in c
c(sapply(2001:2010, paste0, month.abb))
#> [1] "2001Jan" "2001Feb" "2001Mar" "2001Apr" "2001May" "2001Jun" "2001Jul"
#> [8] "2001Aug" "2001Sep" "2001Oct" "2001Nov" "2001Dec" "2002Jan" "2002Feb"
#> [15] "2002Mar" "2002Apr" "2002May" "2002Jun" "2002Jul" "2002Aug" "2002Sep"
#> [22] "2002Oct" "2002Nov" "2002Dec" "2003Jan" "2003Feb" "2003Mar" "2003Apr"
#> [29] "2003May" "2003Jun" "2003Jul" "2003Aug" "2003Sep" "2003Oct" "2003Nov"
#> [36] "2003Dec" "2004Jan" "2004Feb" "2004Mar" "2004Apr" "2004May" "2004Jun"
#> [43] "2004Jul" "2004Aug" "2004Sep" "2004Oct" "2004Nov" "2004Dec" "2005Jan"
#> [50] "2005Feb" "2005Mar" "2005Apr" "2005May" "2005Jun" "2005Jul" "2005Aug"
#> [57] "2005Sep" "2005Oct" "2005Nov" "2005Dec" "2006Jan" "2006Feb" "2006Mar"
#> [64] "2006Apr" "2006May" "2006Jun" "2006Jul" "2006Aug" "2006Sep" "2006Oct"
#> [71] "2006Nov" "2006Dec" "2007Jan" "2007Feb" "2007Mar" "2007Apr" "2007May"
#> [78] "2007Jun" "2007Jul" "2007Aug" "2007Sep" "2007Oct" "2007Nov" "2007Dec"
#> [85] "2008Jan" "2008Feb" "2008Mar" "2008Apr" "2008May" "2008Jun" "2008Jul"
#> [92] "2008Aug" "2008Sep" "2008Oct" "2008Nov" "2008Dec" "2009Jan" "2009Feb"
#> [99] "2009Mar" "2009Apr" "2009May" "2009Jun" "2009Jul" "2009Aug" "2009Sep"
#> [106] "2009Oct" "2009Nov" "2009Dec" "2010Jan" "2010Feb" "2010Mar" "2010Apr"
#> [113] "2010May" "2010Jun" "2010Jul" "2010Aug" "2010Sep" "2010Oct" "2010Nov"
#> [120] "2010Dec"
If you would prefer spaces between years and months, use paste instead of paste0.
An alternative is to generate a sequence of months and have them formatted this way:
format(seq(as.Date("2001-01-01"), as.Date("2010-12-01"), "month"), "%Y%b")
#> [1] "2001Jan" "2001Feb" "2001Mar" "2001Apr" "2001May" "2001Jun" "2001Jul"
#> [8] "2001Aug" "2001Sep" "2001Oct" "2001Nov" "2001Dec" "2002Jan" "2002Feb"
#> [15] "2002Mar" "2002Apr" "2002May" "2002Jun" "2002Jul" "2002Aug" "2002Sep"
#> [22] "2002Oct" "2002Nov" "2002Dec" "2003Jan" "2003Feb" "2003Mar" "2003Apr"
#> [29] "2003May" "2003Jun" "2003Jul" "2003Aug" "2003Sep" "2003Oct" "2003Nov"
#> [36] "2003Dec" "2004Jan" "2004Feb" "2004Mar" "2004Apr" "2004May" "2004Jun"
#> [43] "2004Jul" "2004Aug" "2004Sep" "2004Oct" "2004Nov" "2004Dec" "2005Jan"
#> [50] "2005Feb" "2005Mar" "2005Apr" "2005May" "2005Jun" "2005Jul" "2005Aug"
#> [57] "2005Sep" "2005Oct" "2005Nov" "2005Dec" "2006Jan" "2006Feb" "2006Mar"
#> [64] "2006Apr" "2006May" "2006Jun" "2006Jul" "2006Aug" "2006Sep" "2006Oct"
#> [71] "2006Nov" "2006Dec" "2007Jan" "2007Feb" "2007Mar" "2007Apr" "2007May"
#> [78] "2007Jun" "2007Jul" "2007Aug" "2007Sep" "2007Oct" "2007Nov" "2007Dec"
#> [85] "2008Jan" "2008Feb" "2008Mar" "2008Apr" "2008May" "2008Jun" "2008Jul"
#> [92] "2008Aug" "2008Sep" "2008Oct" "2008Nov" "2008Dec" "2009Jan" "2009Feb"
#> [99] "2009Mar" "2009Apr" "2009May" "2009Jun" "2009Jul" "2009Aug" "2009Sep"
#> [106] "2009Oct" "2009Nov" "2009Dec" "2010Jan" "2010Feb" "2010Mar" "2010Apr"
#> [113] "2010May" "2010Jun" "2010Jul" "2010Aug" "2010Sep" "2010Oct" "2010Nov"
#> [120] "2010Dec"
Created on 2022-05-16 by the reprex package (v2.0.1)