I just noticed that read.table() and type.convert() interpret the string
"i"
as a missing value of type complex.
> str(read.table(text=c("i\ni\ni\ni\n")))
'data.frame': 4 obs. of 1 variable:
$ V1: cplx NA NA NA ...
> str(type.convert("i"))
cplx NA
If there are other strings in the column it makes the column character so
most people will not notice
> str(read.table(text=c("i\nii\niii\niv\n")))
'data.frame': 4 obs. of 1 variable:
$ V1: Factor w/ 4 levels "i","ii","iii",..: 1
2 3 4
Is this intended? It surprised me.
Bill Dunlap
TIBCO Software
wdunlap tibco.com
[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
On 07/10/2015 21:22, William Dunlap wrote:> I just noticed that read.table() and type.convert() interpret the string "i" > as a missing value of type complex. > > str(read.table(text=c("i\ni\ni\ni\n"))) > 'data.frame': 4 obs. of 1 variable: > $ V1: cplx NA NA NA ... > > str(type.convert("i")) > cplx NA > > If there are other strings in the column it makes the column character so > most people will not notice > > str(read.table(text=c("i\nii\niii\niv\n"))) > 'data.frame': 4 obs. of 1 variable: > $ V1: Factor w/ 4 levels "i","ii","iii",..: 1 2 3 4 > > Is this intended? It surprised me.It was intended (that input is ambiguous), but it is being changed .... from the NEWS file for R-devel: ? type.convert("i") now returns a factor instead of a complex value with zero real part and missing imaginary part. -- Brian D. Ripley, ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk Emeritus Professor of Applied Statistics, University of Oxford 1 South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3TG, UK
This is fixed/changed in r-devel:> str(type.convert("i"))Factor w/ 1 level "i": 1 It was reported on July 18 as PR#16473, if you care. (Funny how an obscure issue goes unnoticed for a decade, then pops up twice independently within a few months. A property of the Poisson process, I suppose.)> On 07 Oct 2015, at 22:22 , William Dunlap <wdunlap at tibco.com> wrote: > > I just noticed that read.table() and type.convert() interpret the string "i" > as a missing value of type complex. >> str(read.table(text=c("i\ni\ni\ni\n"))) > 'data.frame': 4 obs. of 1 variable: > $ V1: cplx NA NA NA ... >> str(type.convert("i")) > cplx NA > > If there are other strings in the column it makes the column character so > most people will not notice >> str(read.table(text=c("i\nii\niii\niv\n"))) > 'data.frame': 4 obs. of 1 variable: > $ V1: Factor w/ 4 levels "i","ii","iii",..: 1 2 3 4 > > Is this intended? It surprised me. > > Bill Dunlap > TIBCO Software > wdunlap tibco.com > > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] > > ______________________________________________ > R-devel at r-project.org mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel-- Peter Dalgaard, Professor, Center for Statistics, Copenhagen Business School Solbjerg Plads 3, 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark Phone: (+45)38153501 Email: pd.mes at cbs.dk Priv: PDalgd at gmail.com
Thank you both! Bill Dunlap TIBCO Software wdunlap tibco.com On Wed, Oct 7, 2015 at 1:44 PM, peter dalgaard <pdalgd at gmail.com> wrote:> This is fixed/changed in r-devel: > > > str(type.convert("i")) > Factor w/ 1 level "i": 1 > > It was reported on July 18 as PR#16473, if you care. > > (Funny how an obscure issue goes unnoticed for a decade, then pops up > twice independently within a few months. A property of the Poisson process, > I suppose.) > > > > On 07 Oct 2015, at 22:22 , William Dunlap <wdunlap at tibco.com> wrote: > > > > I just noticed that read.table() and type.convert() interpret the string > "i" > > as a missing value of type complex. > >> str(read.table(text=c("i\ni\ni\ni\n"))) > > 'data.frame': 4 obs. of 1 variable: > > $ V1: cplx NA NA NA ... > >> str(type.convert("i")) > > cplx NA > > > > If there are other strings in the column it makes the column character so > > most people will not notice > >> str(read.table(text=c("i\nii\niii\niv\n"))) > > 'data.frame': 4 obs. of 1 variable: > > $ V1: Factor w/ 4 levels "i","ii","iii",..: 1 2 3 4 > > > > Is this intended? It surprised me. > > > > Bill Dunlap > > TIBCO Software > > wdunlap tibco.com > > > > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] > > > > ______________________________________________ > > R-devel at r-project.org mailing list > > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel > > -- > Peter Dalgaard, Professor, > Center for Statistics, Copenhagen Business School > Solbjerg Plads 3, 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark > Phone: (+45)38153501 > Email: pd.mes at cbs.dk Priv: PDalgd at gmail.com > > > > > > > > >[[alternative HTML version deleted]]