[R] R splits character fields in a csv file

[analyst41 at hotmail.com]

I download a csv extract from a database and use read.csv to read it
from R and when there are large character fields with embedded blanks,
slashes etc. - R often  sees one line as two lines (or more).

I verfied with readLines that an embedded blank in a character field
causes a spurious new line to be seen.

I am sure this problem has beem seen before - and would appreciate any
help in reading such files.