Well, if you type that at a command prompt, the expression is complete after the end of the "if" so you have an "else {}" which is orphaned. I think people usually use this style if() { } else { } or something similar to prevent this. Reid Huntsinger -----Original Message----- From: r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch [mailto:r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of msck9 at mizzou.edu Sent: Friday, March 25, 2005 1:24 PM To: Jeff D. Hamann Cc: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch Subject: [R] if..else.. need help Dear all, I don't know why the following doesn't work. if(cls$size[1]>cls$size[2]) {cls1<-tempforce[cls$cluster==1];cls2<-tempforce[cls$cluster==2]} else {cls1<-tempforce[cls$cluster==2];cls2<-tempforce[cls$cluster==1]} Error: syntax error What is the problem here? thanks. Ming ______________________________________________ R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html