Just to add to the confusion, for (nearly) all practical purposes they are the same:
> all.equal(df1, df2) [1] TRUE > do.call(paste, df1) [1] "1 4" "2 5" "3 6" > do.call(paste, df2) [1] "1 4" "2 5" "3 6" > -----Original Message----- From: r-help-boun...@r-project.org [mailto:r-help-boun...@r-project.org] On Behalf Of Erik Iverson Sent: Monday, 2 August 2010 1:48 PM To: thmsfuller...@gmail.com Cc: r-help@r-project.org Subject: Re: [R] Why do the results of paste() depend on how the argument (data.frame) is constructed? On 08/01/2010 08:48 PM, thmsfuller...@gmail.com wrote: > Hi, > > The following two 'df's should be the same, although their > constructions are different. But they aren't the same. df1 <- data.frame(X=c(1, 2, 3), Y=c(4, 5, 6)) df2 <- data.frame(X=1:3, Y=4:6) identical(df1, df2) yields FALSE See str(df1) str(df2) to see how they differ. But the results of paste() are different. > I don't see this is explained in ?paste. Could you help me understand > why it is like this? > >> df=data.frame(X=c(1, 2, 3), Y=c(4, 5, 6)) >> df > X Y > 1 1 4 > 2 2 5 > 3 3 6 >> paste(df) > [1] "c(1, 2, 3)" "c(4, 5, 6)" >> df=data.frame(X=1:3, Y=4:6) >> df > X Y > 1 1 4 > 2 2 5 > 3 3 6 >> paste(df) > [1] "1:3" "4:6" >> > > ______________________________________________ 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. ______________________________________________ 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.