[R] Converting character strings to numeric

[Petr Pikal]

Hi

Maybe change your R version?

Works for me R 2.3.0pat, W 2000

> x1 <- "1159 1129 1124 -5 -0.44 -1.52"
> x2 <- c("1159","1129","1124","-5","-0.44","-1.52")
> x3 <- unlist(strsplit(x1," "))
> str(x2)
 chr [1:6] "1159" "1129" "1124" "-5" "-0.44" "-1.52"
> str(x3)
 chr [1:6] "1159" "1129" "1124" "-5" "-0.44" "-1.52"
> as.numeric(x2)
[1] 1159.00 1129.00 1124.00   -5.00   -0.44   -1.52
> as.numeric(x3)
[1] 1159.00 1129.00 1124.00   -5.00   -0.44   -1.52
> 
>


HTH
Petr


On 19 May 2006 at 11:47, Mulholland, Tom wrote:

Date sent:      	Fri, 19 May 2006 11:47:54 +0800
From:           	"Mulholland, Tom" <Tom.Mulholland at dpi.wa.gov.au>
To:             	"R-Help (E-mail)" <r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch>
Subject:        	[R] Converting character strings to numeric

> I assume that I have missed something fundamental and that it is there
> in front of me in "An Introduction to R", but I need someone to point
> me in the right direction.
> 
> > x1 <- "1159 1129 1124 -5 -0.44 -1.52"
> > x2 <- c("1159","1129","1124","-5","-0.44","-1.52")
> > x3 <- unlist(strsplit(x1," "))
> > 
> > 
> > str(x2)
>  chr [1:6] "1159" "1129" "1124" "-5" "-0.44" "-1.52"
> > str(x3)
>  chr [1:6] "1159" "1129" "1124" "-5" "-0.44" "-1.52"
> > 
> > as.numeric(x2)
> [1] 1159.00 1129.00 1124.00   -5.00   -0.44   -1.52
> > as.numeric(x3)
> [1] 1159 1129 1124   NA   NA   NA
> Warning message:
> NAs introduced by coercion 
> 
> What do I have to do to get x3  to be the same as x2. 
> 
> Tom
> 
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Petr Pikal
petr.pikal at precheza.cz