[R] puzzle using gsub (and encodings maybe)

[Adrian Dragulescu]

Hello,

Below is some output that shows my issue.

I have a variable x that I read from a file (more on this below)

> x
[1] "NEW YORK NEW ENGLAND"
> gsub(" -", "-", x)            # this does not work!
[1] "NEW YORK NEW ENGLAND"
> Encoding(x)                   # is x in a special encoding? no
[1] "unknown"
> y = "NEW YORK -NEW ENGLAND"   # I type in variable y
> gsub(" -", "-", y)            # and gsub works as expected
[1] "NEW YORK-NEW ENGLAND"
>

I'm sure the problem has to do with the way I read the variable x.  But even if 
I change the encoding for x to ASCII, I still cannot do the sub.
I get x by reading a pdf file with pdftotext so you will not be able to 
replicate my issue.

Thanks for any suggestions,
Adrian