I think you are correct (as expected) I don't know where in the original data the string is, but there is other data doing the same thing.
+ > strsplit(test," ")[[1]] [1] "5159" "3336" "3657" "559" "3042" "55" "307" "-8" "16104" > as.numeric(strsplit(test," ")[[1]]) [1] 5159 3336 3657 559 3042 55 307 NA 16104 Warning message: NAs introduced by coercion > charToRaw(test) [1] 35 31 35 39 20 33 33 33 36 20 33 36 35 37 20 35 35 39 20 33 30 34 32 20 35 35 20 33 30 37 20 96 38 20 31 36 31 30 34 > test [1] "5159 3336 3657 559 3042 55 307 -8 16104" > x1 <- "5159 3336 3657 559 3042 55 307 -8 16104" > charToRaw(x1) [1] 35 31 35 39 20 33 33 33 36 20 33 36 35 37 20 35 35 39 20 33 30 34 32 20 35 35 20 33 30 37 20 2d 38 20 31 36 31 30 34 > as.numeric(strsplit(x1," ")[[1]]) [1] 5159 3336 3657 559 3042 55 307 -8 16104 > So it looks as if the 96 is throwing it out. I'll dig deeper. I guess there's a bit more pre-Processing to do. The only thing that seems slightly strange is that the small example I made up did not use the original data source, but was typed in the same way I did x1 above. However I can't reproduce the error so it may still be a case of finger trouble on my part. Tom > -----Original Message----- > From: Prof Brian Ripley [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, 19 May 2006 3:03 PM > To: Mulholland, Tom > Cc: R-Help (E-mail) > Subject: Re: [R] Converting character strings to numeric > > > On Fri, 19 May 2006, Mulholland, Tom wrote: > > > After replies off the list which indicate the code should > work. I tried a variety of approaches. > > > > Rebooting, Using the --vanilla option and then removing the > whole lot and resinstalling. It now works. > > > > I guess it's another of those windows things? > > No, it works under Windows. > > What you have not shown us is x3: > > > x3 > [1] "1159" "1129" "1124" "-5" "-0.44" "-1.52" > > My guess is that you have something invisible in x1, e.g. a > nbspace not a > space (although that does not fully explain the results). What does > > > charToRaw(x1) > [1] 31 31 35 39 20 31 31 32 39 20 31 31 32 34 20 2d 35 20 > 2d 30 2e 34 34 20 2d > [26] 31 2e 35 32 > > give for you? > > > > > > > Thanks to those that helped. > > > >> -----Original Message----- > >> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of > Mulholland, Tom > >> Sent: Friday, 19 May 2006 11:48 AM > >> To: R-Help (E-mail) > >> Subject: [R] Converting character strings to numeric > >> > >> > >> I assume that I have missed something fundamental and that it > >> is there in front of me in "An Introduction to R", but I need > >> someone to point me in the right direction. > >> > >>> x1 <- "1159 1129 1124 -5 -0.44 -1.52" > >>> x2 <- c("1159","1129","1124","-5","-0.44","-1.52") > >>> x3 <- unlist(strsplit(x1," ")) > >>> > >>> > >>> str(x2) > >> chr [1:6] "1159" "1129" "1124" "-5" "-0.44" "-1.52" > >>> str(x3) > >> chr [1:6] "1159" "1129" "1124" "-5" "-0.44" "-1.52" > >>> > >>> as.numeric(x2) > >> [1] 1159.00 1129.00 1124.00 -5.00 -0.44 -1.52 > >>> as.numeric(x3) > >> [1] 1159 1129 1124 NA NA NA > >> Warning message: > >> NAs introduced by coercion > >> > >> What do I have to do to get x3 to be the same as x2. > >> > >> Tom > > -- > Brian D. Ripley, [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Professor of Applied Statistics, http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/ > University of Oxford, Tel: +44 1865 272861 (self) > 1 South Parks Road, +44 1865 272866 (PA) > Oxford OX1 3TG, UK Fax: +44 1865 272595 > ______________________________________________ R-help@stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html