[Rd] alpha-numeric order bug (PR#3996)

[kschlauc at vt.edu]

I am running R version 1.7.1 on 3 different operating systems:
Linux RedHat, Linux Slackware, and Windows 2000.

R is ordering alpha-numeric character strings in different ways, dependent
on the operating system. R orders strings exactly the same on Slackware and 
Windows,
and this ordering corresponds to SPlus. It's the RedHat that is creating the 
problem.

On Slackware, Windows, and SPlus:
 " "<"1"
[1] TRUE
> " 1"<"10"
[1] TRUE
> " 2"<"10"
[1] TRUE

On RedHat
 " "<"1"
[1] TRUE
> " 1" < "10"
[1] TRUE
> " 2" < "10"
[1] FALSE


Similarly, on Slackware, Windows and SPlus
>"2"<"-"
[1] FALSE
> "23"<"-3"
[1] FALSE

On RedHat
> "2"<"-"
[1] FALSE
> "23"<"-3"
[1] TRUE


Is this a RedHat problem or an R problem?

Thanks,
Karen Schlauch