Hi Peter,
Sorry if I was not clear. Perhaps an example will make my point:
> data(iris)
> class(iris$Species)
[1] "factor"
> write.table(iris,'data/myiris.tab')
> data(myiris)
> class(myiris$Species)
[1] "factor"
> rm(myiris)
> options(stringsAsFactors = FALSE)
> data(myiris)
> class(myiris$Species)
[1] "factor"
> myiris<-read.table("data/myiris.tab",header=TRUE)
> class(myiris$Species)
[1] "character"
I am surprised to find that in the above
setting the global option stringsAsFactors = FALSE does NOT effect
how Species is being read in by the `data` function
whereas
setting the global option stringsAsFactors = FALSE DOES effect how
Species is being read in by read.table
especially since data is documented as calling read.table.
In my opinion, one or the other should change (the behavior of data, or the
documentation).
<bleep> <bleep>,
~ Malcolm
> -----Original Message-----
> From: peter dalgaard [mailto:pda...@gmail.com]
> Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2016 3:32 PM
> To: Cook, Malcolm <m...@stowers.org>
> Cc: r-de...@stat.math.ethz.ch
> Subject: Re: [Rd] should `data` respect default.stringsAsFactors()?
>
> What the <bleep> are you on about? data() does many things, only some of
> which call read.table() et al., and the ones that do have no special
> treatment
> of stringsAsFactors.
>
> -pd
>
> > On 18 Feb 2016, at 21:25 , Cook, Malcolm <m...@stowers.org> wrote:
> >
> > Hiya,
> >
> > Probably been debated elsewhere....
> >
> > I note that R's `data` function does not respect default.stringsAsFactors
> >
> > By my lights, it should, especially as it is documented to call read.table,
> which DOES respect.
> >
> > Oh, but: http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/stringsAsFactors-FALSE-
> tp921891p921893.html
> >
> > Compelling. I have to agree.
> >
> > So, I change my mind.
> >
> > By my lights, `data` should then be documented to NOT respect
> default.stringsAsFactors.
> >
> > Else?
> >
> > ~Malcolm Cook
> >
> > ______________________________________________
> > R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
> > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
>
> --
> Peter Dalgaard, Professor,
> Center for Statistics, Copenhagen Business School
> Solbjerg Plads 3, 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark
> Phone: (+45)38153501
> Office: A 4.23
> Email: pd....@cbs.dk Priv: pda...@gmail.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
______________________________________________
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
