In certain programs (not current R), a pattern with stuff after a naked dollar sign would not match anything because dollar meant end-of-string.
In any case I prefer simple rules like 'backslash a dollar sign' instead of 'backslash a dollar sign at the end of the pattern but not elsewhere'. Bill Dunlap TIBCO Software wdunlap tibco.com On Thu, Feb 11, 2016 at 9:01 AM, Jeff Newmiller <jdnew...@dcn.davis.ca.us> wrote: > The "end of string" special meaning only applies when the dollar sign is > at the right end of the string (as it was in the OP attempt). That is, it > is NOT generally necessary to wrap it in brackets to remove the special > meaning unless it would otherwise be at the end of the pattern string. > -- > Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity. > > On February 10, 2016 10:10:40 PM PST, William Dunlap via R-help < > r-help@r-project.org> wrote: > >> y >>> >> [1] "$1,000.00 " "$1,000.00 " "$1,000.00 " "$2,600.00 " "$2,600.00 " >> >>> gsub("$", "", y) >>> >> [1] "$1,000.00 " "$1,000.00 " "$1,000.00 " "$2,600.00 " "$2,600.00 “ # >> no change. Why? >> >> "$" as a regular expression means "end of string", which has zero length - >> replacing "end >> of string" with nothing does not affect the string. Try gsub("$", >> "DOLLAR", "$100") >> to see it do something. >> >> Use either fixed=TRUE so the 'pattern' argument is not regarded as a >> regular expression or pattern="\\$" or pattern="[$]" to remove dollar's >> special >> meaning in the pattern language. >> >> Read up on regular expressions (probably there is a See Also >> entry in >> help(gsub)). >> >> >> Bill Dunlap >> TIBCO Software >> wdunlap tibco.com >> >> On Wed, Feb 10, 2016 at 9:39 PM, James Plante <jimpla...@me.com> wrote: >> >> What I’ve got: >>> # sessionInfo() >>> R version 3.2.3 (2015-12-10) >>> Platform: x86_64-apple-darwin13.4.0 (64-bit) >>> Running under: OS X 10.11.3 (El Capitan) >>> >>> locale: >>> [1] en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8/C/en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8 >>> >>> attached base packages: >>> [1] stats graphics grDevices utils datasets methods base >>> >>> other attached packages: >>> [1] XML_3.98-1.3 dplyr_0.4.3 >>> >>> loaded via a namespace (and not attached): >>> [1] magrittr_1.5 R6_2.1.2 assertthat_0.1 rsconnect_0.4.1.4 >>> [5] parallel_3.2.3 DBI_0.3.1 tools_3.2.3 >>> Rcpp_0.12.3 >>> >>> str(y) #toy vector, subset of larger vector in a dataframe of ~4,600 >>>> >>> rows. >>> chr [1:5] "$1,000.00 " "$1,000.00 " "$1,000.00 " "$2,600.00 " "$2,600.00 “ >>> >>> y is a subset of a column in a dataframe that’s too big to post. I tried >>> the commands listed here on the dataframe and it didn’t work. So I’m using >>> a small subset to find out where my error is. It’s being a PITA, and I’m >>> trying to solve it. What I want is a vector of numbers: 1000, 1000, 1000, >>> 2600, 2,600. >>> >>> What I’ve tried: >>> >>>> y >>>> >>> [1] "$1,000.00 " "$1,000.00 " "$1,000.00 " "$2,600.00 " "$2,600.00 " >>> >>>> gsub("$", "", y) >>>> >>> [1] "$1,000.00 " "$1,000.00 " "$1,000.00 " "$2,600.00 " "$2,600.00 “ # no >>> change. Why? >>> >>>> gsub(".00", "", y) # note: that’s dot zero zero, replace with “" >>>> >>> [1] "$10 " "$10 " "$10 " "$2, " "$2, “ #WTF? >>> >>> I’ve also tried sapply and apply, but haven’t yet tried a loop. (These >>> were done in desperation; gsub ought to work the way the help says.) I’ve >>> tried lots more than is listed here, over and over, with no results. I’d be >>> grateful for any guidance you can provide. >>> >>> Thanks in advance, >>> >>> Jim Plante >>> >>> ------------------------------ >>> >>> R-help@r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see >>> 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. >>> >> >> [[alternative HTML version deleted]] >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> R-help@r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see >> 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. >> >> [[alternative HTML version deleted]] ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see 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.