R help - Jul 2009 - recoding charactor variables with special charactors

I have a several character variables that I need to recode, but some of them
have special characters like single quote or ( ). How tell R to ignore these
special characters so I can rename them? Below is the error message I am
getting.
 
social$FamilySupport[social$FamilySupport=="Mr. XXXs' extended family
live in the Nashville area where he and his wife reside."]<-"Highly
Supportive"
Warning in `[<-.factor`(`*tmp*`, social$FamilySupport == "Mr. XXXs'
extended family live in the Nashville area where he and his wife reside.", 
:
  invalid factor level, NAs generated



Chris Anderson
707.315.8486
www.sassydeals4u.com
____________________________________________________________
Click to find deals on color printers and inks.
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	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

It's because the levels of factor, don't characters:

f <- factor(c("AAA's", "B(s)", "CCC"))
levels(f)[levels(f) == "AAA's"] <- "AAAAAA"


On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 4:43 PM, Chris Anderson
<chris6764@netzero.net>wrote:
> I have a several character variables that I need to recode, but some of
> them have special characters like single quote or ( ). How tell R to ignore
> these special characters so I can rename them? Below is the error message I
> am getting.
>
> social$FamilySupport[social$FamilySupport=="Mr. XXXs' extended
family live
> in the Nashville area where he and his wife reside."]<-"Highly
Supportive"
> Warning in `[<-.factor`(`*tmp*`, social$FamilySupport == "Mr.
XXXs'
> extended family live in the Nashville area where he and his wife
reside.",
>  :
>  invalid factor level, NAs generated
>
>
>
> Chris Anderson
> 707.315.8486
> www.sassydeals4u.com
> ____________________________________________________________
> Click to find deals on color printers and inks.
>
>
http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2241/fc/BLSrjpYR5fJC7MeC1xbOpWpulSKIYlbNvfa8G3h7se8nrP9RvM2utx3A3bK/
>        [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help@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.
>


-- 
Henrique Dallazuanna
Curitiba-Paraná-Brasil
25° 25' 40" S 49° 16' 22" O

	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

First of all try str(socia) and see what the structure of the data is.  R seems
to be interpreting that character string as a format If I am reading the error
message correctly.

--- On Wed, 7/1/09, Chris Anderson <chris6764 at netzero.net> wrote:
> From: Chris Anderson <chris6764 at netzero.net>
> Subject: [R] recoding charactor variables with special charactors
> To: r-help at r-project.org
> Received: Wednesday, July 1, 2009, 3:43 PM
> I have a several character variables
> that I need to recode, but some of them have special
> characters like single quote or ( ). How tell R to ignore
> these special characters so I can rename them? Below is the
> error message I am getting.
>  
> social$FamilySupport[social$FamilySupport=="Mr. XXXs'
> extended family live in the Nashville area where he and his
> wife reside."]<-"Highly Supportive"
> Warning in `[<-.factor`(`*tmp*`, social$FamilySupport => "Mr.
XXXs' extended family live in the Nashville area where
> he and his wife reside.",? :
> ? invalid factor level, NAs generated
> 
> 
> 
> Chris Anderson
> 707.315.8486
> www.sassydeals4u.com
> ____________________________________________________________
> Click to find deals on color printers and inks.
>
http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2241/fc/BLSrjpYR5fJC7MeC1xbOpWpulSKIYlbNvfa8G3h7se8nrP9RvM2utx3A3bK/
> ??? [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> 
> ______________________________________________
> 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.
> 

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