HI, get("DD[2]") #[1] 5 If you wanted to change the one without quotes:
new1<-function(x,y) {eval.parent(substitute(x<-y))} new1(DD[2],7) DD[2] #[1] 7 DD #[1] 1 7 3 A.K. ----- Original Message ----- From: andrewH <ahoer...@rprogress.org> To: r-help@r-project.org Cc: Sent: Saturday, November 3, 2012 11:10 PM Subject: Re: [R] Can you turn a string into a (working) symbol? Yes, the assign command goes a little way toward what what I was hoping for. But it requires a different syntax, and it does not in general let you use quoted expressions that you could use with other assignment operators. For instance, > DD <- 1:3 > assign("DD[2]", 5) > DD [1] 1 2 3 So I am still looking for a function that produces an output that is fully equivalent to the string without quotation marks. Or for a definite statement that no such function can exist. Thanks so much for your attention to this problem. andrewH -- View this message in context: http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/Can-you-turn-a-string-into-a-working-symbol-tp4648343p4648366.html Sent from the R help mailing list archive at Nabble.com. ______________________________________________ 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.