\Header{names}{The Names Attribute of an Object}
\methalias{names.default}{names}
\alias{names<\Rdash}{names}
\methalias{names<\Rdash.default}{names}
\keyword{attribute}{names}
\begin{Description}\relax
\code{names} is a generic accessor function to the \code{names}
attribute of an \R{} object, typically a \code{\Link{vector}}.
The first form prints the names of the observations
and the second sets the names.
In this case, \code{value} must be a vector of character strings of the
same length as \code{x}.\end{Description}
\begin{Usage}
\begin{verbatim}
names(x, ...)
names.default(x)
names(x) <- value
\end{verbatim}
\end{Usage}
\begin{Examples}
\begin{ExampleCode}

# print the names attribute of the islands data set
names(islands)

# remove the names attribute
names(islands) <- NULL
\end{ExampleCode}
\end{Examples}

