I have a comma delimited text file in which many columns of numbers are
also quoted and have commas as well as decimals. I was surprised to find
read.csv() didn't import this seamlessly, even after messing around with
the colClasses argument. I did find a solution to convert the character
strings after reading them in, but wonder if there isn't a better one I
overlooked.
test = c("10,522.5","11,768.9","11,354.3")
as.numeric(test) # fails
as.numeric(gsub(",","",test)) # works
Any suggestions? Or is this as good as it gets? I'm not complaining ...
just curious!
Drew Tyre
School of Natural Resources
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
416 Hardin Hall, East Campus
Lincoln, NE 68583-0974
phone: +1 402 472 4054 fax: +1 402 472 2946
email: atyre2@unl.edu
http://snr.unl.edu/tyre
[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
See: https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2007-April/130912.html On 6/14/07, Andrew J Tyre <atyre2 at unlnotes.unl.edu> wrote:> I have a comma delimited text file in which many columns of numbers are > also quoted and have commas as well as decimals. I was surprised to find > read.csv() didn't import this seamlessly, even after messing around with > the colClasses argument. I did find a solution to convert the character > strings after reading them in, but wonder if there isn't a better one I > overlooked. > > test = c("10,522.5","11,768.9","11,354.3") > as.numeric(test) # fails > as.numeric(gsub(",","",test)) # works > > Any suggestions? Or is this as good as it gets? I'm not complaining ... > just curious! > > Drew Tyre > > School of Natural Resources > University of Nebraska-Lincoln > 416 Hardin Hall, East Campus > Lincoln, NE 68583-0974 > phone: +1 402 472 4054 fax: +1 402 472 2946 > email: atyre2 at unl.edu > http://snr.unl.edu/tyre > [[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. >
There is no support for 'thousands separators' in R's input/conversion routines, mainly because C has no support either (not even for output in the C standard). We could of course add our own layer, but as far as I am aware this is the first time this has come up. On Thu, 14 Jun 2007, Andrew J Tyre wrote:> I have a comma delimited text file in which many columns of numbers are > also quoted and have commas as well as decimals. I was surprised to find > read.csv() didn't import this seamlessly, even after messing around with > the colClasses argument. I did find a solution to convert the character > strings after reading them in, but wonder if there isn't a better one I > overlooked. > > test = c("10,522.5","11,768.9","11,354.3") > as.numeric(test) # fails > as.numeric(gsub(",","",test)) # works > > Any suggestions? Or is this as good as it gets? I'm not complaining ... > just curious! > > Drew Tyre > > School of Natural Resources > University of Nebraska-Lincoln > 416 Hardin Hall, East Campus > Lincoln, NE 68583-0974 > phone: +1 402 472 4054 fax: +1 402 472 2946 > email: atyre2 at unl.edu > http://snr.unl.edu/tyre > [[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. >-- Brian D. Ripley, ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk Professor of Applied Statistics, http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/ University of Oxford, Tel: +44 1865 272861 (self) 1 South Parks Road, +44 1865 272866 (PA) Oxford OX1 3TG, UK Fax: +44 1865 272595