[R] Quick fix formatting

[Richard.Cotton at hsl.gov.uk]

> I have two data frames and am running a loop to match similar rows.
> However the matching is not working well, and I suspect it is because of
> the different formats of columns.  For example, in col. 1 of dataframe 1
> the nummbers are formatted as 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9...31  However in col. 1
> dataframe 2 the numbers are 01,02,03,04,05,06,07,08,09...31  After
> investigation it seems only the numbers below 10  do not match up well
> (i.e. those with a 0 in).
> 
> My question is: is there a quick fix so I can convert the first set of
> numbers into the format of the second?  I could write a loop and if
> statement but that seems a lot and I thought there must be an easier way
> out there.  However having searched the archives, nothing has appeared.

Method 1:
Use numbers that are of type numeric, rather than strings with digits in 
them.  Take a look at ?as.numeric for the conversion.

Method 2:
Reformat the strings using format, or formatC.  These both accept vector 
inputs, so you can format a whole column with one command.

Regards,
Richie.

Mathematical Sciences Unit
HSL


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