Ver abaixo

 paste("perf.a", "1", sep="")
    [1] "perf.a1"

E se eu quiser atribuir um valor aperf.a1?

Eu tenteias.name, as.symbol, etc., sem sucesso:

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