df <- data.frame(a = 1:10, y = rnorm(10), l = letters[1:10])

df
##     a           y l
## 1   1  1.43638070 a
## 2   2  0.08001122 b
## 3   3 -0.13754592 c
## 4   4 -0.58091990 d
## 5   5  1.15955232 e
## 6   6  0.81428658 f
## 7   7 -1.01419810 g
## 8   8  0.52744843 h
## 9   9  0.19757766 i
## 10 10  0.60040306 j
df[, c("y", "a")]
##              y  a
## 1   1.43638070  1
## 2   0.08001122  2
## 3  -0.13754592  3
## 4  -0.58091990  4
## 5   1.15955232  5
## 6   0.81428658  6
## 7  -1.01419810  7
## 8   0.52744843  8
## 9   0.19757766  9
## 10  0.60040306 10
df[, c(2, 1)]
##              y  a
## 1   1.43638070  1
## 2   0.08001122  2
## 3  -0.13754592  3
## 4  -0.58091990  4
## 5   1.15955232  5
## 6   0.81428658  6
## 7  -1.01419810  7
## 8   0.52744843  8
## 9   0.19757766  9
## 10  0.60040306 10
df[, 2, drop = FALSE]
##              y
## 1   1.43638070
## 2   0.08001122
## 3  -0.13754592
## 4  -0.58091990
## 5   1.15955232
## 6   0.81428658
## 7  -1.01419810
## 8   0.52744843
## 9   0.19757766
## 10  0.60040306
df[[1]]
##  [1]  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10
1:10
##  [1]  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10
print(df)
##     a           y l
## 1   1  1.43638070 a
## 2   2  0.08001122 b
## 3   3 -0.13754592 c
## 4   4 -0.58091990 d
## 5   5  1.15955232 e
## 6   6  0.81428658 f
## 7   7 -1.01419810 g
## 8   8  0.52744843 h
## 9   9  0.19757766 i
## 10 10  0.60040306 j