[R] RODBC excel - need to preserve (or extract) numeric column names

[Enrico Schumann]

At least for Excel 2003 on my computer (Win XP) I can "persuade" Excel to
treat cells like text by prepending a ' to the entry (eg, '1000). Then
sqlFetch/RODBC should import these cells as character. [But a number would
not be valid column name for a data.frame, and you may run into other
trouble. See ?make.names]

regards,
enrico



> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: r-help-bounces at r-project.org 
> [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org] Im Auftrag von Folkes, Michael
> Gesendet: Dienstag, 5. April 2011 00:05
> An: r-help at r-project.org
> Betreff: [R] RODBC excel - need to preserve (or extract) 
> numeric column names
> 
> I'm using RODBC to read an excel file (not mine!).  But I'm 
> struggling to find a way to preserve the column names that 
> have a numeric value.  sqlFetch() drops the value and calls 
> them f1, f2, f3,... (ie field number).  this is a different 
> approach from read.csv, which will append "V" prior to the 
> numeric column name.  sqlFetch isn't so helpful. 
>  
> Is there a way to get the first line of data from the excel 
> file and place it in a vector?  Perhaps I can use that method 
> and rename the dataframe column names later?
>  
> thanks!
> Michael
>  
> _______________________________________________________
> Michael Folkes
> Salmon Stock Assessment
> Canadian Dept. of Fisheries & Oceans     
> Pacific Biological Station
> 3190 Hammond Bay Rd.
> Nanaimo, B.C., Canada
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> Ph (250) 756-7264 Fax (250) 756-7053  
> Michael.Folkes at dfo-mpo.gc.ca <mailto:Michael.Folkes at dfo-mpo.gc.ca> 
> 
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