[R] Problem with number characters

[Gabor Grothendieck]

Assuming that the problem is that your input file has 
additional embedded characters added by the data base
program you could try extracting just the text using
the UNIX strings program:

   strings myfile.csv > myfile.txt

and see if myfile.txt works with R and if not check out
what the differences are between it and the .csv file.

Date:   Thu, 14 Oct 2004 11:31:33 -0700 
From:   Scott Waichler <scott.waichler at pnl.gov>
To:   <r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch> 
Subject:   [R] Problem with number characters 

 
I am trying to process text fields scanned in from a csv file that is
output from the Windows database program FileMakerPro. The characters
onscreen look like regular text, but R does not like their underlying binary form.
For example, one of text fields contains a name and a number, but
R recognizes the number as something other than what it appears
to be in plain text. The character string "Draszt 03" after being
read into R using scan and ="" becomes "Draszt 03" where the 3 is 
displayed in my R session as a superscript. Here is the result pasted
into this email I'm composing in emacs: "Draszt 0%/1ÂÂ?iso8859-15³"
Another clue for the knowledgable: when I try to display the vector element
causing trouble, I get
<CHARSXP: "Draszt 0%/1ÂÂ?iso8859-15³">
where again the superscipt part is just "3" in my R session. I'm working in
Linux, R version 1.9.1, 2004-06-21. Your help will be much appreciated.

Scott Waichler
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
scott.waichler at pnl.gov