names2() always returns a character vector, even when an
object does not have a names attribute. In this case, it returns
a vector of empty names "". It also standardises missing names to
"".
The replacement variant names2<- never adds NA names and
instead fills unnamed vectors with "".
Examples
names2(letters)
#> [1] "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" ""
#> [23] "" "" "" ""
# It also takes care of standardising missing names:
x <- set_names(1:3, c("a", NA, "b"))
names2(x)
#> [1] "a" "" "b"
# Replacing names with the base `names<-` function may introduce
# `NA` values when the vector is unnamed:
x <- 1:3
names(x)[1:2] <- "foo"
names(x)
#> [1] "foo" "foo" NA
# Use the `names2<-` variant to avoid this
x <- 1:3
names2(x)[1:2] <- "foo"
names(x)
#> [1] "foo" "foo" ""