Hi, I tried to read your data from the image: OPENCUT<- read.table("OpenCut.dat",header=TRUE,sep="\t") OPENCUT ????????? FC???? LC? SR? DM 1? 400030.34 1323.5?? 0 400 2?? 12680.13??? 2.5?? 0 180 3? 472272.75 2004.7?? 3 300 4? 332978.03 1301.3 106 180 5?? 98654.20? 295.0?? 0 180 6?? 68142.05? 259.9? 69 125 7? 178433.11? 425.0? 49 180 8?? 96765.83? 635.5? 12 180 9? 204808.90? 640.4?? 0 400 10 151760.20? 357.0?? 0 180 11? 91330.42? 173.6?? 6 180 12? 93154.33? 197.5? 16 125 13 121030.15? 203.0? 30 125 14? 60132.75? 160.0? 26 125 15? 32233.78?? 69.0?? 8? 90 16? 44445.13? 137.0?? 0 125 17 160791.82 1335.0?? 0 180 18? 62531.76?? 80.5? 21 180 str(OPENCUT) #'data.frame':??? 18 obs. of? 4 variables: # $ FC: num? 400030 12680 472273 332978 98654 ... # $ LC: num? 1323.5 2.5 2004.7 1301.3 295 ... # $ SR: int? 0 0 3 106 0 69 49 12 0 0 ... # $ DM: int? 400 180 300 180 180 125 180 180 400 180 ... You didn't mention whether you attach(OPENCUT) or not. If you didn't attach the data: ?OPENCUT$FC # [1] 400030.34? 12680.13 472272.75 332978.03? 98654.20? 68142.05 178433.11 ?#[8]? 96765.83 204808.90 151760.20? 91330.42? 93154.33 121030.15? 60132.75 #[15]? 32233.78? 44445.13 160791.82? 62531.76 ?OPENCUT$LC # [1] 1323.5??? 2.5 2004.7 1301.3? 295.0? 259.9? 425.0? 635.5? 640.4? 357.0 #[11]? 173.6? 197.5? 203.0? 160.0?? 69.0? 137.0 1335.0?? 80.5 ?OPENCUT$SR # [1]?? 0?? 0?? 3 106?? 0? 69? 49? 12?? 0?? 0?? 6? 16? 30? 26?? 8?? 0?? 0? 21 ?OPENCUT$DM # [1] 400 180 300 180 180 125 180 180 400 180 180 125 125 125? 90 125 180 180 ?OPENCUT[,1] # [1] 400030.34? 12680.13 472272.75 332978.03? 98654.20? 68142.05 178433.11 ?#[8]? 96765.83 204808.90 151760.20? 91330.42? 93154.33 121030.15? 60132.75 #[15]? 32233.78? 44445.13 160791.82? 62531.76 attach(OPENCUT) #this I won't recommend ?FC # [1] 400030.34? 12680.13 472272.75 332978.03? 98654.20? 68142.05 178433.11 ?#[8]? 96765.83 204808.90 151760.20? 91330.42? 93154.33 121030.15? 60132.75 #[15]? 32233.78? 44445.13 160791.82? 62531.76 ?LC # [1] 1323.5??? 2.5 2004.7 1301.3? 295.0? 259.9? 425.0? 635.5? 640.4? 357.0 #[11]? 173.6? 197.5? 203.0? 160.0?? 69.0? 137.0 1335.0?? 80.5 SR # [1]?? 0?? 0?? 3 106?? 0? 69? 49? 12?? 0?? 0?? 6? 16? 30? 26?? 8?? 0?? 0? 21 ?DM # [1] 400 180 300 180 180 125 180 180 400 180 180 125 125 125? 90 125 180 180 Not sure how you got that errors.? It would be better if you dput(OPENCUT). A.K. Hi, I know there are several similar post, but I really have troubles reading a simple .dat file and I don't understand why. In fact, I am being able to import the data but only the first and last column are recognized as a proper vector set. Could you please tell me why I am not being able to read SR and LC columns??? Please see the screenshot attached: ? As you can see, columns FC and DM are well read by R however the other two are not. I've also tried to import it as a csv sheet but the result was the same. Any help would be appreciated! Many thanks, Stoyan