R help - Jun 2009 - Maximum number of tables combined with rbind

Hello,

I have been using read.table to read data files into R, then rbind to
combine them into one table.  The column headings are all identical, so it
should be straightforward, and it seems to be working well so far.

My question is: What is the maximum number of tables that can be combined
with rbind?

Is it driven by the number of rows in the tables, by a constraint with the
syntax of rbind itself, by my PC's memory, or by some other constraint?  At
this point the data files I am reading in are approx 2,500 rows x 150
columns.

Thanks,

Guy Green
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On Jun 20, 2009, at 1:02 AM, gug wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> I have been using read.table to read data files into R, then rbind to
> combine them into one table.  The column headings are all identical,  
> so it
> should be straightforward, and it seems to be working well so far.
>
> My question is: What is the maximum number of tables that can be  
> combined
> with rbind?
>
> Is it driven by the number of rows in the tables, by a constraint  
> with the
> syntax of rbind itself, by my PC's memory,
Yes, and the OS. "PC" is not a useful designation for an OS.
> or by some other constraint?  At
> this point the data files I am reading in are approx 2,500 rows x 150
> columns.
That should not be any problem. On an Intel-Mac w/ 8 GB there is no  
problem with dataframes that are 500 times that size.

If this is on a Windows box, there is an RW-FAQ on the
topic.
>
David Winsemius, MD
Heritage Laboratories
West Hartford, CT