R help - Dec 2004 - split() and paste() a vector to get a multi line string

How can I get a multi line string from a vector of string tokens
in an easy manner (e.g. for the use as xlab of a plot)?

I have e.g.:
>	tokens <- letters[1:5]
[1] "a" "b" "c" "d" "e"

I search:
[1] "a, b, c\nd, e"

I tried:
>   nlines <- 2
>   ntokens.line <- ceiling(length(tokens) / nlines)
>	token.list <- split(tokens, rep( 1:ntokens.line, each=ntokens.line,
len=length(tokens)))
$"1"
[1] "a" "b" "c"
$"2"
[1] "d" "e"

I could work with a data.frame, e.g.:
>	paste(collapse='\n', apply(token.df, MARGIN=1, FUN=paste,
collapse=', '))
but I got an error when converting token.list to a data
frame:
>	token.df <- data.frame( token.list )
Error in data.frame("1" = c("a", "b",
"c"), "2" = c("d", "e"), check.names =
FALSE) :
        arguments imply differing number of rows: 3, 2

What can I do (other than using a loop now)?

Thanks - Wolfram

Hi:

here is something that works on your token.list object:

 > paste(lapply(token.list,paste,collapse=",
"),collapse="\n")
[1] "a, b, c\nd, e"

You can't use data.frames, as your vectors dont have the same number of 
elements.
But you still have all the information, in a list. So you can use lapply to 
compute on elements of this list.
If we decompose, the lapply does:

 > lapply(token.list,paste,collapse=", ")
$"1"
[1] "a, b, c"

$"2"
[1] "d, e"

On which we call a paste.

HTH,

Eric



At 12:00 1/12/2004, Wolfram Fischer wrote:
>How can I get a multi line string from a vector of string tokens
>in an easy manner (e.g. for the use as xlab of a plot)?
>
>I have e.g.:
> >       tokens <- letters[1:5]
>[1] "a" "b" "c" "d" "e"
>
>I search:
>[1] "a, b, c\nd, e"
>
>I tried:
> >   nlines <- 2
> >   ntokens.line <- ceiling(length(tokens) / nlines)
> >       token.list <- split(tokens, rep( 1:ntokens.line, 
> each=ntokens.line, len=length(tokens)))
>$"1"
>[1] "a" "b" "c"
>$"2"
>[1] "d" "e"
>
>I could work with a data.frame, e.g.:
> >       paste(collapse='\n', apply(token.df, MARGIN=1,
FUN=paste,
> collapse=', '))
>
>but I got an error when converting token.list to a data frame:
> >       token.df <- data.frame( token.list )
>Error in data.frame("1" = c("a", "b",
"c"), "2" = c("d", "e"), check.names
>= FALSE) :
>         arguments imply differing number of rows: 3, 2
>
>What can I do (other than using a loop now)?
>
>Thanks - Wolfram
>
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Eric Lecoutre
UCL /  Institut de Statistique
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Belgium

tel: (+32)(0)10473050
lecoutre at stat.ucl.ac.be
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Tufte