[R] Yet another question about importing Excel *.xls files

[Gabor Grothendieck]

On Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 6:01 PM, Jerry Floren <jerry.floren at state.mn.us> wrote:
> Next, I tried Gabor's code, which is so much more compact:
>
> ### Start of Gabor's code ###
> library(gdata)
> DF <- read.xls(U, pattern = "SAMPLE", as.is = TRUE)
> ##  End of Gabor's code ##
>
> Is "U" the directory and path? Is "SAMPLE" the .XLS worksheet name (Paste
> Special) that I want R to read?

Yes, U is the path/filename. SAMPLE is the pattern. All rows prior to
the first row with a cell containing the text SAMPLE are ignored.

You can specify the sheet number in the sheet= argument but there is
no facility for specifying the sheet name. e.g.

    DF <- read.xls(U, pattern = "SAMPLE", sheet = 2, as.is = TRUE)

If you only know the sheet name but not the position then you are
better off using one of the other methods.

>
> ## The following are the error messages: ##
>
>> library(gdata)
>
> Attaching package: 'gdata'
>
>
>        The following object(s) are masked from package:utils :
>
>         object.size
>
>> DF <- read.xls("C:/Documents and Settings/jfloren/My Documents/Test_R",
>> pattern = "Paste Special", as.is = TRUE)
> Converting xls file to csv file... Error in system(cmd, intern = !verbose) :
> perl not found
> Error in file.exists(tfn) : invalid 'file' argument

There is something wrong with your file specification.  Maybe its
really ends in Test_R.xls?  Enter

file.choose()

on a line by itself and use the resulting browser to find the file and
then see what it outputs as its path/name.

>>
>> ls()
> character(0)
>>
>
> ## End of error messages ##
>
> Thanks for all of your help. Time to go home for the night.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jerry Floren
> Minnesota Department of Agriculture
>
>
>
> --
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