[R] getting started, reading listing and saving data

[Ronnie Babigumira]

Dear List
I am new to R and to the list and will try best as I can be clear and
concise. My apologies if anything I write contravenes the posting code
on this list. I would also like to say I have run through most of the
material on the R website before writing this email however, I am
stuck.

Here is what I want to do and what I have done

1. Read a comma seperated text file into R
I have used read.csv and it seems to have worked

2. List the a few observations to make sure the right stuff came in
I have failed to find a command that allows me to list a few
observations and would appreciate some help on this (I have used edit
which pops up an spreadsheet however, I would prefer a command that
allows me to list a few observations for inspection)

3. Save this data as an r dataset
I cant seem to figure this out (I tried  save(mytextfile, file =
"myrdata") but when I try to load what I saved, I get an error message
"Error: bad restore file magic number (file may be corrupted) -- no data loaded"

4. Load this r dataset and proceed to work on it

I would appreciate some help.