title: Accessing data in another column in Datatables
body: <p>I'm using Datatables and I'm trying to access data in another column. It's unclear to me if I should be using <a href="https://datatables.net/reference/option/columns.data" rel="noreferrer">columns.data</a> or if I should be taking another approach by using getting the column index instead?</p>
  <h1>Objective</h1>
  <ul>
  <li>In the second render function, I want the first <code>makeSlug(data)</code> to be referencing the <code>&quot;data&quot;: &quot;district&quot;</code> and the second one to remain the same and reference <code>&quot;data&quot;: &quot;school&quot;</code></li>
  </ul>
  <h2>scripts.js</h2>
  <pre><code>&quot;columns&quot;: [
  { &quot;data&quot;: &quot;district&quot;,
      &quot;render&quot;: function (data, type, row, meta) {
          return '&lt;a href=&quot;/schools/' + makeSlug(data) + '&quot;&gt;' + data + '&lt;/a&gt;';
      }
  },
  { &quot;data&quot;: &quot;school&quot;,
      &quot;render&quot;: function (data, type, row, meta) {
          return '&lt;a href=&quot;/schools/' + makeSlug(data) + '/' + makeSlug(data) + '&quot;&gt;' + data + '&lt;/a&gt;';
      }
  },
  { &quot;data&quot;: &quot;subject&quot;},
  { &quot;data&quot;: &quot;rate&quot;},
  { &quot;data&quot;: &quot;test_takers&quot;}
  ],
  </code></pre>