On 08-Sep-09 10:40:18, Duncan Murdoch wrote: > On 08/09/2009 6:09 AM, (Ted Harding) wrote: >> Sorry if this is too "OT", but there is a particular relevance to >> postings to R-help. >> >> Of recent times, I have received several postings via R-help (and some >> other mailing-lists) in which the "_" character is inserted where, >> presumably, a space, " ", was intended. An example (received this >> morning) is below, which (from the headers) was originally sent >> through Yahoo web-mail. This is as seen when I read it. >> [ From: FMH <kagba2...@yahoo.com> >> Subject: [R] Derivative of nonparametric curve >> Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 02:07:10 -0700 (PDT) ] >> >> ================================================ >> Dear All, >> >> I'm looking for_a way on computing the derivative of first and second >> order_of a smoothing curve produced by a nonprametric regression. For >> instance, if we run the R script below, a smooth nonparametric >> regression >> curve is produced. >> >> provide.data(trawl) >> Zone92__ <- (Year == 0 & Zone == 1) >> Position <- cbind(Longitude - 143, Latitude) >> dimnames(Position)[[2]][1] <- "Longitude - 143" >> sm.regression(Longitude, Score1, method = "aicc", col = "red",_ model >> = >> "linear") >> >> Could someone please give some hints_on the way to_find the >> derivative_on >> the curve at_some points ? >> >> Thank you. >> Kagba >> ================================================ >> >> In the message headers I see: >> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" >> Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable >> >> and, on inspection of the message text in the "inbox" folder (i.e. as >> it was delivered to me), I see that each and every occurrence of the >> "_" is represented there as the three successive characters "=A0", >> i.e. a "quoted-printable" code. >> >> Normally, I can happily ignore this kind of thing when it just occurs >> in text. But since, as in the above message, it can also be >> interpolated >> into R code, this could cause unnecessary inconvenience for people >> who want to test the code which people post to R-help. Ditto if >> someone >> should post code (such as the above) as a solution to someone else's >> problem: As received, it just would not work! >> >> Comment: I have for long time been under the impression, now >> apparently >> a delusion, that the abominable quoted-printable had found its due >> final >> resting-place in the Museum of Dishonorable Obsolescence; apparently >> not! >> >> Also, if people are using web-mailers (Yahoo or other) that wantonly >> insert this kind of rubbish, they should look into the possibility of >> either changing the configuration under which they post their mails >> (if possible), or mailing via a different agent. >> >> The "quoted-printable" aspect may be a red herring, since I also see >> that the "=" signs in the code are represented as "=3D", as is forced >> in "quoted-printable"; but they have been rendered correctly in the >> text as seen (and copied). So it may just be due to substitution of >> "_" for " " on the ,art of the mailer. >> >> What do others think? > > I don't see the underscores in that posting, but I do see this as the > last line in the headers: > > X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by > fisher.stats.uwo.ca id n8898BkC031633 > > (fisher.stats.uwo.ca is the server that receives my email). > > So it looks as though whatever is doing the conversion on your system > isn't doing it as well as it should. > > Duncan Murdoch
Thanks for this. No such conversion was performed in my case: it was delivered as-is, i.e. in the original quoted-printable (QP). The destination to which it was originally delivered (manchester.ac.uk) apparently does nothing about re-encoding it. My local mailer handles the decoding and rendering of encoded content. The QP code "=A0" in the source Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" corresponds to "Non-Breakable Space" (NBSP), so presumably my mailer displays this as "_" to distinguish it from the basic ASCII space (SP) (ASCII code 32, QP code "=20"). (Note that the QP elements "=3D" in the original were correctly rendered as "=", so the decoding indeed took place). This still leaves open the issue that what was presumably a simple ASCII space SP when originally entered, got changed to NBSP somehow in the process of being sent! Thanks for the comment, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <ted.hard...@manchester.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 08-Sep-09 Time: 12:46:42 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------ ______________________________________________ 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.