Subset columns based on list of column names and bring the column before it

Question

I have a larger dataset following the same order, a unique date column, data, unique date column, date, etc. I am trying to subset not just the data column by name but the uniqu

Answer 1

How about

NameList <- c("Fire","Earth")

idx <- match(NameList, names(MAINDF))
idx <- sort(c(idx-1, idx))

NewDF <- MAINDF[,idx] 

Here we use match() to find the index of the desired column, and then we can use index subtraction to grab the column before it