[R] Problem with German special characters

[Wolf, Michael]

Dear list!

When using the German special characters I didn't see all characters in the correct way. Let's take the command

ff <- "äöüßÄÖÜ"   # (for those ones who can't see this in the correct way \"a, \"ö, \"ü
                  # \ss (?), \"A, \"O and \"U in LaTeX commands

'ff' will show the output text "\344\366üß\304\326\334" on Rconsole. So only "ü" ("\u) and "ß" (\ss) are shown in the correct way. The other characters are coded in the "\" form.

I found out that this problem doesn't occur when exporting 'ff' to a text file with 'writeLines'. When opening this file with a text editor you can see all characters in the correct way.

What can I do to get the correct output of the special characters?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Dr. Michael Wolf
Bezirksregierung Münster
Dezernat 61
Domplatz 1-3    48161 Münster
Tel.:   ++ 49 (02 51) / 4 11 - 17 95
Fax.:   ++ 49 (02 51) / 4 11 - 8 17 95
E-Mail: michael.wolf at bezreg-muenster.nrw.de