title: Create a variable name with "paste" in R?
body: <p>See below:</p>
  
  <pre><code>paste("perf.a", "1", sep="")
  # [1] "perf.a1"
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What if I want to assign a value to <code>perf.a1</code>?</p>
  
  <p>I tried <code>as.name</code>, <code>as.symbol</code>, etc., with no avail:</p>
  
  <pre><code>as.name(paste("perf.a", "1", sep="")) = 5
  # Error in as.name(paste("perf.a", "1", sep = "")) = 5 : 
  #   target of assignment expands to non-language object
  as.symbol(paste("perf.a", "1", sep="")) = 5
  # Error in as.symbol(paste("perf.a", "1", sep = "")) = 5 : 
  #   target of assignment expands to non-language object
  noquote(paste("perf.a", "1", sep="")) = 5
  # Error in noquote(paste("perf.a", "1", sep = "")) = 5 : 
  #   target of assignment expands to non-language object
  </code></pre>