R help - Dec 2013 - Basic misunderstanding, or problem with my installation?

I've just uninstalled and then reinstalled R on my windows 7 machine.
To test my understanding of data frames, I'm trying the following code.
(I plan to do other things with it, if it would only work.)
Here's the code, which seems pretty basic to me:
ls()
nums ? c(1,2,3,4,5)
ltrs ? c(?a?,?b?,?c?,?d?,?e?)
df1 ? data.frame(nums,ltrs)

Here's what happens when I try to run it:
 > ls()
character(0)
 > nums ? c(1,2,3,4,5)
Error: unexpected input in "nums \"
 > ltrs ? c(?a?,?b?,?c?,?d?,?e?)
Error: unexpected input in "ltrs \"
 > df1 ? data.frame(nums,ltrs)
Error: unexpected input in "df1 \"
 >

Am I really misunderstanding the basics, or is there something
wrong with my installation?
David

On Tue, Dec 31, 2013 at 6:53 PM, David Parkhurst <parkhurs at imap.iu.edu>
wrote:
> I've just uninstalled and then reinstalled R on my windows 7 machine.
> To test my understanding of data frames, I'm trying the following code.
> (I plan to do other things with it, if it would only work.)
> Here's the code, which seems pretty basic to me:
> ls()
> nums ? c(1,2,3,4,5)
> ltrs ? c(?a?,?b?,?c?,?d?,?e?)
> df1 ? data.frame(nums,ltrs)
>
> Here's what happens when I try to run it:
>> ls()
> character(0)
>> nums ? c(1,2,3,4,5)
> Error: unexpected input in "nums \"
>> ltrs ? c(?a?,?b?,?c?,?d?,?e?)
> Error: unexpected input in "ltrs \"
>> df1 ? data.frame(nums,ltrs)
> Error: unexpected input in "df1 \"
>>
>
> Am I really misunderstanding the basics, or is there something
> wrong with my installation?

The assignment operator is TWO characters: a less than sign
immediately followed by a minus sign.  Try copying and pasting this:

x <- 3
x

-- 
Statistics & Software Consulting
GKX Group, GKX Associates Inc.
tel: 1-877-GKX-GROUP
email: ggrothendieck at gmail.com

Hi David,

Your code is showing up here with an arrow symbols. If it's an actual cut
and paste, that's your problem: assignment in R is the two-character <-
and
not an arrow symbol.

Otherwise your code looks fine.

Sarah

On Tuesday, December 31, 2013, David Parkhurst wrote:
> I've just uninstalled and then reinstalled R on my windows 7 machine.
> To test my understanding of data frames, I'm trying the following code.
> (I plan to do other things with it, if it would only work.)
> Here's the code, which seems pretty basic to me:
> ls()
> nums ← c(1,2,3,4,5)
> ltrs ← c(“a”,”b”,”c”,”d”,”e”)
> df1 ← data.frame(nums,ltrs)
>
> Here's what happens when I try to run it:
> > ls()
> character(0)
> > nums ← c(1,2,3,4,5)
> Error: unexpected input in "nums \"
> > ltrs ← c(“a”,”b”,”c”,”d”,”e”)
> Error: unexpected input in "ltrs \"
> > df1 ← data.frame(nums,ltrs)
> Error: unexpected input in "df1 \"
> >
>
> Am I really misunderstanding the basics, or is there something
> wrong with my installation?
> David
>
> ______________________________________________
> 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.
>

-- 
Sarah Goslee
http://www.stringpage.com
http://www.sarahgoslee.com
http://www.functionaldiversity.org

	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-
> project.org] On Behalf Of Sarah Goslee
> Sent: Tuesday, December 31, 2013 4:55 PM
> To: David Parkhurst
> Cc: r-help at r-project.org
> Subject: Re: [R] Basic misunderstanding, or problem with my
> installation?
> 
> Hi David,
> 
> Your code is showing up here with an arrow symbols. If it's an actual
> cut
> and paste, that's your problem: assignment in R is the two-character
<-
> and
> not an arrow symbol.
> 
> Otherwise your code looks fine.
> 
> Sarah
> 
> On Tuesday, December 31, 2013, David Parkhurst wrote:
> 
> > I've just uninstalled and then reinstalled R on my windows 7
machine.
> > To test my understanding of data frames, I'm trying the following
> code.
> > (I plan to do other things with it, if it would only work.)
> > Here's the code, which seems pretty basic to me:
> > ls()
> > nums ? c(1,2,3,4,5)
> > ltrs ? c(?a?,?b?,?c?,?d?,?e?)
> > df1 ? data.frame(nums,ltrs)
> >
> > Here's what happens when I try to run it:
> > > ls()
> > character(0)
> > > nums ? c(1,2,3,4,5)
> > Error: unexpected input in "nums \"
> > > ltrs ? c(?a?,?b?,?c?,?d?,?e?)
> > Error: unexpected input in "ltrs \"
> > > df1 ? data.frame(nums,ltrs)
> > Error: unexpected input in "df1 \"
> > >
> >
> > Am I really misunderstanding the basics, or is there something
> > wrong with my installation?
> > David
> >
> > ______________________________________________
> > 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.
> >
> 
And after you get your assignment operator straightened out, you may need to
change the quote marks in your character vector.  It looks like they may be
"smart quotes" from a word processor, rather than the plain single or
double quote marks that R will accept.

Dan

Daniel J. Nordlund, PhD
Research and Data Analysis Division
Services & Enterprise Support Administration
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services

Thanks to the three people who saw what I missed.  I typed my
code in Libre Office as "<" followed by "-", and that
program
converted those two characters into a single left arrow symbol.
I copied the commands from Libre into R without noticing that
that had happened.  Wierd.

On 12/31/2013 7:54 PM, Sarah Goslee wrote:
> Hi David,
>
> Your code is showing up here with an arrow symbols. If it's an actual
> cut and paste, that's your problem: assignment in R is the
two-character
> <- and not an arrow symbol.?
>
> Otherwise your code looks fine.
>
> Sarah
>
> On Tuesday, December 31, 2013, David Parkhurst wrote:
>
>     I've just uninstalled and then reinstalled R on my windows 7
machine.
>     To test my understanding of data frames, I'm trying the following
code.
>     (I plan to do other things with it, if it would only work.)
>     Here's the code, which seems pretty basic to me:
>     ls()
>     nums ??? c(1,2,3,4,5)
>     ltrs ??? c(???a???,???b???,???c???,???d???,???e???)
>     df1 ??? data.frame(nums,ltrs)
>
>     Here's what happens when I try to run it:
>      > ls()
>     character(0)
>      > nums ??? c(1,2,3,4,5)
>     Error: unexpected input in "nums \"
>      > ltrs ??? c(???a???,???b???,???c???,???d???,???e???)
>     Error: unexpected input in "ltrs \"
>      > df1 ??? data.frame(nums,ltrs)
>     Error: unexpected input in "df1 \"
>      >
>
>     Am I really misunderstanding the basics, or is there something
>     wrong with my installation?
>     David
>
>     ________________________________________________
>     R-help at r-project.org? mailing list
>     https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/__listinfo/r-help
>     <https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help>
>     PLEASE do read the posting guide
>     http://www.R-project.org/__posting-guide.html
>     <http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html>
>     and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>
>
>
> --
> Sarah Goslee
> http://www.stringpage.com
> http://www.sarahgoslee.com
> http://www.functionaldiversity.org