R help - Dec 2012 - replace parenthetical phrases in a string

R-helpers,

I have a vector of character strings in which I would like to replace each
parenthetical phrase with a single space, " ".  For example if I start
with
x, I would like to end up with y.

x <- c("My toast=bog(keep=3 no=4) and eggs(er34)omit=32",
"dogs have ears",
"cats have tails (and ears, too!)")

y <- c("My toast=bog  and eggs omit=32",
"dogs have ears",
"cats have tails  ")

I'm guessing that this can be done with gsub(), but I have never mastered
the mysteries of regular expressions.

I would greatly appreciate any pointers.

Thanks.

Jean

P.S.  I'm using R version 2.15.2 on Windows 7.

	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

My apologies.  I sent too soon!

I did a bit more digging, and found a solution on the R-help archives.

y <- gsub(" *\\([^)]*\\) *", "", x)

Jean



On Thu, Dec 13, 2012 at 4:53 PM, Adams, Jean <jvadams@usgs.gov> wrote:
> R-helpers,
>
> I have a vector of character strings in which I would like to replace each
> parenthetical phrase with a single space, " ".  For example if I
start with
> x, I would like to end up with y.
>
> x <- c("My toast=bog(keep=3 no=4) and eggs(er34)omit=32",
> "dogs have ears",
> "cats have tails (and ears, too!)")
>
> y <- c("My toast=bog  and eggs omit=32",
> "dogs have ears",
> "cats have tails  ")
>
> I'm guessing that this can be done with gsub(), but I have never
mastered
> the mysteries of regular expressions.
>
> I would greatly appreciate any pointers.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Jean
>
> P.S.  I'm using R version 2.15.2 on Windows 7.
>
	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

Hi,

I guess there are some problems with spaces in this solution.

?y
[1] "My toast=bog? and eggs omit=32" "dogs have
ears"???????????????
[3] "cats have tails? "???????????? 
?gsub(" *\\([^)]*\\) *", "", x)
#[1] "My toast=bogand eggsomit=32" "dogs have
ears"????????????
#[3] "cats have tails"?? 


You could try this:
?gsub("(\\(.*\\))+?"," ",x)
#[1] "My toast=bog? and eggs omit=32" "dogs have
ears"???????????????
#[3] "cats have tails? "???????? 
A.K.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Adams, Jean" <jvadams at usgs.gov>
To: r-help at r-project.org
Cc: 
Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2012 6:03 PM
Subject: Re: [R] replace parenthetical phrases in a string

My apologies.? I sent too soon!

I did a bit more digging, and found a solution on the R-help archives.

y <- gsub(" *\\([^)]*\\) *", "", x)

Jean



On Thu, Dec 13, 2012 at 4:53 PM, Adams, Jean <jvadams at usgs.gov> wrote:
> R-helpers,
>
> I have a vector of character strings in which I would like to replace each
> parenthetical phrase with a single space, " ".? For example if I
start with
> x, I would like to end up with y.
>
> x <- c("My toast=bog(keep=3 no=4) and eggs(er34)omit=32",
> "dogs have ears",
> "cats have tails (and ears, too!)")
>
> y <- c("My toast=bog? and eggs omit=32",
> "dogs have ears",
> "cats have tails? ")
>
> I'm guessing that this can be done with gsub(), but I have never
mastered
> the mysteries of regular expressions.
>
> I would greatly appreciate any pointers.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Jean
>
> P.S.? I'm using R version 2.15.2 on Windows 7.
>
??? [[alternative HTML version deleted]]

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