library(permute)
set.seed(42)
exampledf<- data.frame(allPerms(c(1,2,3,4)))
exampledf<-head(exampledf)

apply(exampledf,2,function(x){
    ll<-x[1]==1
    which(ll==T)
    })

X1 X2 X3 X4
1  1  2  4  3
2  1  3  2  4
3  1  3  4  2
4  1  4  2  3
5  1  4  3  2
6  2  1  3  4

X1
X1
X1
X1
X1
X3