[R] Suggestion for the posting guide

[Roger D. Peng]

You can use 'dput()' or 'dump()' to create a text representation and 
paste that into an email if it's small enough.  Another possiblity, if 
you have access to a webserver, is to save a workspace file via 
'save()' or 'save.image()' and post it on the web.  Given the URL, 
users with Internet access can 'load()' it directly off the web into 
R.  I guess one downside of that method is the example data do not get 
stored in the mailing list archives.

-roger

Bock, Michael wrote:
> I was preparing an e-mail for the help list and ran across a quandary.
> When asking for help it is useful to include the code/data so others can
> run your code and test it. I was running code on a data frame and wanted
> to include a small version of the data frame. The data frame was based
> on experimental data. What is the best way to do this? I didn't want to
> send an attachment so a wrote code to generate the data frame but it was
> a bit cumbersome. Everything worked as planned but then I saw my error
> and never had to send to e-mail (perhaps there is hope for me yet). Is
> there an easier way to export a SMALL data frame so you can recreate it
> using the example code that can be placed in the posting guide? Is it
> really a good idea to show people how to do this as we run the risk of
> someone sending a huge e-mail? Perhaps the "manual method" is really the
> best way to go, submitted for your consideration.
> 
> 
> Michael J. Bock, PhD.
> ARCADIS
> 24 Preble St. Suite 100
> Portland, ME 04101
> 207.828.0046
> fax 207.828.0062
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at 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
> 

-- 
Roger D. Peng
http://www.biostat.jhsph.edu/~rpeng/