R: removing NULL elements from a list

The closest you’ll be able to get is to first name the list elements and then remove the NULLs.

names(x) <- seq_along(x)

## Using some higher-order convenience functions
Filter(Negate(is.null), x)
# $`11`
# [1] 123
# 
# $`13`
# [1] 456

# Or, using a slightly more standard R idiom
x[sapply(x, is.null)] <- NULL
x
# $`11`
# [1] 123
# 
# $`13`
# [1] 456