So I have 2 different surveys that I'm working with. For standardized survey #1, I have hundreds of different excel files that I combined using the codes below (the columns/questions are the same in each excel/survey file).

```
my_files <- list.files(pattern = "*.xls")

Survey <- lapply(my_files, function(i){
  x = read_excel(i, sheet=1, skip = 14)
  x$file = i
  x
})

Survey = do.call("rbind.data.frame", Survey)

```

This does the trick in easily combining all the different surveys since they have the same column names.

However, my survey #2 is slightly different which makes it difficult to aggregate the files together. Few of the columns start out with similar patterns but are not titled the exact same way, making it difficult to combine. E.g.,

Excel #1:

| Participant | 4(a). Behavior ABC | 4(b). Behavior DEF | 4(c). Behavior GHI | Course Title |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | 4 | 7 | 7 | Course 1 |
| 2 | 5 | 5 | 2 | Course 1 |
| 3 | 5 | 6 | 3 | Course 1 |
| 4 | 6 | 5 | 6 | Course 1 |

Excel #2:

| Participant | 4(a). Behavior XYZ | 4(b). Behavior UVW | 4(c). Behavior RST | Course Title |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | 5 | 4 | 6 | Course 2 |
| 2 | 6 | 3 | 7 | Course 2 |
| 3 | 6 | 4 | 6 | Course 2 |
| 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Course 2 |

For my current purpose, I want to be able to combine dozens or even hundreds of these surveys and show the average score of 4(a). Behavior for all the surveys, for 4(b). Behavior, etc. Is there a simple way to let R know that it can combine columns that start with "4(a)." even if it's named slightly different across files?