Checking for names in nested named list in R

I. Creating Nested List

  Your_list <- list(a=list(x=c(4,5)),b=list(c=list(y=c(8,99)),d=c("a","b")))

  names(Your_list)
  # [1] "a" "b"

  names(.Internal(unlist(Your_list, TRUE, TRUE)))
  # [1] "a.x1"   "a.x2"   "b.c.y1" "b.c.y2" "b.d1"   "b.d2" 

  str(Your_list)
  # List of 2
  #  $ a:List of 1
  #   ..$ x: num [1:2] 4 5
  #  $ b:List of 2
  #   ..$ c:List of 1
  #   .. ..$ y: num [1:2] 8 99
  #   ..$ d: chr [1:2] "a" "b"

II. Removing Nesting from the list

  New_list <- unlist(Your_list)
  New_list
  #   a.x1   a.x2 b.c.y1 b.c.y2   b.d1   b.d2 
  #    "4"    "5"    "8"   "99"    "a"    "b" 

  class(New_list)
  # [1] "character"

  str(New_list)
  #  Named chr [1:6] "4" "5" "8" "99" "a" "b"
  #  - attr(*, "names")= chr [1:6] "a.x1" "a.x2" "b.c.y1" "b.c.y2" ...

III. Converting it to list without nesting

  New_list <- as.list(New_list)
  New_list
  # $a.x1
  # [1] "4"

  # $a.x2
  # [1] "5"

  # $b.c.y1
  # [1] "8"

  # $b.c.y2
  # [1] "99"

  # $b.d1
  # [1] "a"

  # $b.d2
  # [1] "b"

  class(New_list)
  # [1] "list"

  str(New_list)
  # List of 6
  #  $ a.x1  : chr "4"
  #  $ a.x2  : chr "5"
  #  $ b.c.y1: chr "8"
  #  $ b.c.y2: chr "99"
  #  $ b.d1  : chr "a"
  #  $ b.d2  : chr "b"

IV. Accessing elements from Flat list New_list by names

  New_list$a.x1
  # [1] "4"
  New_list$a.x2
  # [1] "5"
  New_list$b.d2
  # [1] "b"
  New_list$b.c.y2
  # [1] "99"

Note: Here, the class is not preserved for the elements of flatten list. You will need to preserve the class when unlisting the list.

As you see all of them are character at the end.