How to create empty data frame with column names specified in R? [duplicate]

Just create a data.frame with 0 length variables

eg

nodata <- data.frame(x= numeric(0), y= integer(0), z = character(0))
str(nodata)

## 'data.frame':    0 obs. of  3 variables:
##  $ x: num 
##  $ y: int 
##  $ z: Factor w/ 0 levels: 

or to create a data.frame with 5 columns named a,b,c,d,e

nodata <- as.data.frame(setNames(replicate(5,numeric(0), simplify = F), letters[1:5]))