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

[David Winsemius]

On Apr 5, 2011, at 4:53 AM, Enrico Schumann wrote:

> 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]
>

If the problem is that Excel is failing to treat cells as text, then  
you could also try selecting the cells, then using the Format/Cells  
panel to specify "Text" rather than "General". But as I suggested  
before, I suspect the problem is you effort to defeat the usual  
checking for valid R names.

-- 
David.


> 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
>> V9T-6N7
>> 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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>
> ______________________________________________
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David Winsemius, MD
West Hartford, CT