You can split your string, and then only take the first 4 digits after that (this is only an improvement if your numbers might not be at the end of mytext):
mytext <- "I do not want the first number 1234, but the second number 5678" sstr<-strsplit(mytext,split="second number ")[[1]][2] nynumbers<-substr(sstr,1,4) On Fri, Aug 26, 2011 at 11:18 AM, Henrique Dallazuanna <www...@gmail.com> wrote: > Try this: > > gsub(".*second number ", "", mytext) > > On Thu, Aug 25, 2011 at 8:00 PM, Lorenzo Cattarino > <l.cattar...@uq.edu.au> wrote: >> I R-users, >> >> I am trying to find the way to manipulate a character string to select a 4 >> digit number after some specific word/s. Example: >> >> mytext <- "I do not want the first number 1234, but the second number 5678" >> >> Is there any function that allows you to select a certain number of digits >> (in this case 5678) after a particular word/s (e.g., second number) >> >> Thank you for your help >> >> Lorenzo >> >> >> [[alternative HTML version deleted]] >> >> ______________________________________________ >> 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. >> > > > > -- > Henrique Dallazuanna > Curitiba-Paraná-Brasil > 25° 25' 40" S 49° 16' 22" O > > ______________________________________________ > 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.