R help - Nov 2006 - Mayday ! Needing urgent help about writing results to a file

Hey listmembers,
I am desperately trying to write a data frame to a file. Not in CSV, but as they
"appear" on the screen (nice, easy to read tables). I've read that
the sink function is the way to go.

I have tried the following code inside a function. 

sink("ABC.txt")
MyFrameA
MyFrameB
sink()

It gives the result I need when I use it outside a function, but when I use it
*inside* a function I wrote, it creates an empty file. I want to pull my hair
out !

What should I do so that, when the function ends, I have a text file called
ABC.txt having MyFrameA and MyFrameB in the same file.

Thanks so much (in advance) to help me out on this one ! I'm sure some of
you already encountered such a situation.

Marc.
	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

On Fri, 2006-11-17 at 01:39 -0800, Marc Feuerstein
wrote:
> Hey listmembers,
> I am desperately trying to write a data frame to a file. Not in CSV,
> but as they "appear" on the screen (nice, easy to read tables).
I've
> read that the sink function is the way to go.
> 
> I have tried the following code inside a function. 
> 
> sink("ABC.txt")
> MyFrameA
> MyFrameB
> sink()
> 
> It gives the result I need when I use it outside a function, but when
> I use it *inside* a function I wrote, it creates an empty file. I want
> to pull my hair out !
Are you forgetting to *print* MyFrameA etc.? It works fine for me in a
function if you print the object:

foo <- function(x, file = "temp.file.txt")
{
	sink(file = file)
	print(x)
	sink(file = NULL)
}
> dat <- as.data.frame(matrix(rnorm(10), ncol = 5))
> names(dat) <- LETTERS[1:5]
> rownames(dat) <- letters[1:2]
> foo(dat)
G
> 
> What should I do so that, when the function ends, I have a text file
> called ABC.txt having MyFrameA and MyFrameB in the same file. 
> 
> Thanks so much (in advance) to help me out on this one ! I'm sure some
> of you already encountered such a situation.
> 
> Marc.
> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> 
> ______________________________________________
> 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
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
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Gavin Simpson                     [t] +44 (0)20 7679 0522
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Marc Feuerstein <marc_feuerstein at yahoo.com> writes:
> Hey listmembers,
> I am desperately trying to write a data frame to a file. Not in CSV, but as
they "appear" on the screen (nice, easy to read tables). I've read
that the sink function is the way to go.
> 
> I have tried the following code inside a function. 
> 
> sink("ABC.txt")
> MyFrameA
> MyFrameB
> sink()
> 
> It gives the result I need when I use it outside a function, but when I use
it *inside* a function I wrote, it creates an empty file. I want to pull my hair
out !
> 
> What should I do so that, when the function ends, I have a text file called
ABC.txt having MyFrameA and MyFrameB in the same file.
Have a look at related issue in FAQ 7.16
> Thanks so much (in advance) to help me out on this one ! I'm sure some
of you already encountered such a situation.
> 
> Marc.
-- 
   O__  ---- Peter Dalgaard             ?ster Farimagsgade 5, Entr.B
  c/ /'_ --- Dept. of Biostatistics     PO Box 2099, 1014 Cph. K
 (*) \(*) -- University of Copenhagen   Denmark          Ph:  (+45) 35327918
~~~~~~~~~~ - (p.dalgaard at biostat.ku.dk)                  FAX: (+45) 35327907

Marc,

This is an exercise of the lesson STAT2430 at the UCL. Please, do your 
homework alone!!!!





Marc Feuerstein a ?crit :
> Hey listmembers,
> I am desperately trying to write a data frame to a file. Not in CSV, but as
they "appear" on the screen (nice, easy to read tables). I've read
that the sink function is the way to go.
>
> I have tried the following code inside a function. 
>
> sink("ABC.txt")
> MyFrameA
> MyFrameB
> sink()
>
> It gives the result I need when I use it outside a function, but when I use
it *inside* a function I wrote, it creates an empty file. I want to pull my hair
out !
>
> What should I do so that, when the function ends, I have a text file called
ABC.txt having MyFrameA and MyFrameB in the same file.
>
> Thanks so much (in advance) to help me out on this one ! I'm sure some
of you already encountered such a situation.
>
> Marc.
> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
> ______________________________________________
> 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
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>
>   
-- 
Alain Guillet
Statistician and Computer Scientist

Institut de statistique - Universit? catholique de Louvain
Bureau d.126
Voie du Roman Pays, 20
B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
Belgium

tel: +32 10 47 30 50