[R] Working around 256 byte variable names? + trouble opening large file

[A Singh]

Dear John,

I did just try to do that, and it is still returning the same error when I 
try to attach the csv file..

> vc1<-read.table("P:\\R\\Everything-I.csv",header=T, sep=" ", dec=".", 
na.strings=NA, strip.white=T)
> attach(vc1)
Error in attach(vc1) : variable names are limited to 256 bytes

Each variable name is only 5 to 6 characters long, but I'm sure you're 
right about R reading the entire header line as one variable.
I cannot figure out though, how to stop it from doing so.

sep=" ", or sep="," do not seem to work either, though I don't know if it 
is the right thing to be trying.



--On 21 September 2009 13:11 -0700 John Kane <jrkrideau at yahoo.ca> wrote:

> Well the first suspicious thing seems to be  the 256 byte variable names.
> Do you really have a 256 byte variable name? If so, why?  It sounds like
> R is reading the entire header line as one variable.
>
> Why not try exporting the Exce file as a csv file and loading that?
>
>
>
>
> --- On Mon, 9/21/09, A Singh <Aditi.Singh at bristol.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>> From: A Singh <Aditi.Singh at bristol.ac.uk>
>> Subject: [R] Working around 256 byte variable names? + trouble opening
>> large file To: r-help at r-project.org
>> Received: Monday, September 21, 2009, 4:04 PM
>> Dear R users,
>>
>> I am trying to read in a file with 105 columns, and when
>> trying to attach it, get an error as follows:
>>
>> > vc1<-read.table("P:\\R\\Everything-I.txt",
>> header=T, sep=" ", dec=".",
>> na.strings=NA, strip.white=T)
>> > attach(vc1)
>> Error in attach(vc1) : variable names are limited to 256
>> bytes
>>
>> Is there a way to get around this, and make R accept the
>> given variable names? Or will I have to shorten them?
>>
>>
>> Also, when I try to read in a much larger file with 430
>> columns, I get the error:
>>
>> Error in scan(file, what, nmax, sep, dec, quote, skip,
>> nlines, na.strings, :
>>  line 397 did not have 431 elements
>>
>> Is it that R isn't dealing too well with
>> Excel-converted-to-text files? Is it a function of file
>> size?
>>
>> I have double-checked the 430 column file and all data
>> seems to be in place.
>>
>>
>> Thanks for your help!
>>
>> Aditi
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----------------------
>> A Singh
>> Aditi.Singh at bristol.ac.uk
>> School of Biological Sciences
>> University of Bristol
>>
>> ______________________________________________
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>> reproducible code.
>>
>
>
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----------------------
A Singh
Aditi.Singh at bristol.ac.uk
School of Biological Sciences
University of Bristol