R help - Jun 2010 - Backslash in paste() function

Hi,

I'm trying to build a vector of latex commands. However, I need the command
strings to begin with a backslash "\". I have:

test <- c('foo','bar')

and I need to rebuild the array, encapsulating the text items with latex stuff,
like this:

paste("\parbox[b]{3cm}{", test, "}", fill=TRUE)

Actually, cat() prints the string fine if one uses double backslashes. However,
I can't save the result from cat() back to a vector. And when I use cat()
inside the latex function from the Hmisc package, I only get errors... The (not
so) funny thing is that I can use paste() on a few latex commands. So if I
needed to make the strings bold, the following works:

paste("\bfseries{", test, "}")

I've read the R FAQ 7.37, but it only deals with cat(). Not paste. Or I just
didn't get it :o/

Is there a way to paste() the backslash character?
> sessionInfo()
R version 2.11.1 (2010-05-31) 
i486-pc-linux-gnu 

locale:
 [1] LC_CTYPE=en_US.utf8       LC_NUMERIC=C             
 [3] LC_TIME=en_US.utf8        LC_COLLATE=en_US.utf8    
 [5] LC_MONETARY=C             LC_MESSAGES=en_US.utf8   
 [7] LC_PAPER=en_US.utf8       LC_NAME=C                
 [9] LC_ADDRESS=C              LC_TELEPHONE=C           
[11] LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.utf8 LC_IDENTIFICATION=C      

attached base packages:
[1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base    
>

Just double all the backslashes and you are fine.
In order to see the outcome, use cat() (not print).

Uwe Ligges




On 16.06.2010 09:49, Stefan Petersson wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm trying to build a vector of latex commands. However, I need the
command strings to begin with a backslash "\". I have:
>
> test<- c('foo','bar')
>
> and I need to rebuild the array, encapsulating the text items with latex
stuff, like this:
>
> paste("\parbox[b]{3cm}{", test, "}", fill=TRUE)
>
> Actually, cat() prints the string fine if one uses double backslashes.
However, I can't save the result from cat() back to a vector. And when I use
cat() inside the latex function from the Hmisc package, I only get errors... The
(not so) funny thing is that I can use paste() on a few latex commands. So if I
needed to make the strings bold, the following works:
>
> paste("\bfseries{", test, "}")
>
> I've read the R FAQ 7.37, but it only deals with cat(). Not paste. Or I
just didn't get it :o/
>
> Is there a way to paste() the backslash character?
>
>> sessionInfo()
> R version 2.11.1 (2010-05-31)
> i486-pc-linux-gnu
>
> locale:
>   [1] LC_CTYPE=en_US.utf8       LC_NUMERIC=C
>   [3] LC_TIME=en_US.utf8        LC_COLLATE=en_US.utf8
>   [5] LC_MONETARY=C             LC_MESSAGES=en_US.utf8
>   [7] LC_PAPER=en_US.utf8       LC_NAME=C
>   [9] LC_ADDRESS=C              LC_TELEPHONE=C
> [11] LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.utf8 LC_IDENTIFICATION=C
>
> attached base packages:
> [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base
>>
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.

2010/6/16 Uwe Ligges <ligges at
statistik.tu-dortmund.de>:
> Just double all the backslashes and you are fine.
> In order to see the outcome, use cat() (not print).
Is R ever going to get an alternate way to specify literal character
strings?  This has been a real annoyance for years.