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

[John Kane]

Sometimes getting a file into R can seem like the longest part of the project :(

Okay I seem to have misread your first message.  If I understand you correctly the file vcl is being read in?  It is only when you  try to attach the file that you have the problem?

If this is so, have a look at vcl.  Try 

head(vcl)
str((vcl) 
class(vcl) 

and see if you can display the file (head()) and get some idea of the structure from str() and class()




--- On Mon, 9/21/09, A Singh <Aditi.Singh at bristol.ac.uk> wrote:

> From: A Singh <Aditi.Singh at bristol.ac.uk>
> Subject: Re: [R] Working around 256 byte variable names? + trouble opening large file
> To: "John Kane" <jrkrideau at yahoo.ca>, r-help at r-project.org, "A Singh" <Aditi.Singh at bristol.ac.uk>
> Received: Monday, September 21, 2009, 4:19 PM
> 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
> >>
> >> ______________________________________________
> >> R-help at r-project.org
> >> mailing list
> >> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> >> PLEASE do read the posting guide
> >> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide
> commented,
> >> minimal, self-contained,
> >> reproducible code.
> >>
> >
> >
> >   
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---------
> A Singh
> Aditi.Singh at bristol.ac.uk
> School of Biological Sciences
> University of Bristol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 


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