[R] Using get() or similar function to access more than one element in a vector

[Joshua Wiley]

Hi Joseph,

Without a reproducible example, you probably will not get the precise
code for a solution but look at ?list

Rather than doing what you are doing now, put everything into a list,
and then you will not need to use get() at all.  You will just work
with the whole list.  It can take a bit to get to get used to working
that way, but it is worth it.

Cheers,

Josh

On Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 9:34 PM, Joseph Sorell <josephsorell at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear R-users,
>
> I've written a script that produces a frequency table for a group of
> texts. The table has a total frequency for each word type and
> individual frequency counts for each of the files. (I have not
> included the code for creating the column headers.) Below is a sample:
>
> Word  Total     01.txt  02.txt  03.txt  04.txt  05.txt
> the     22442   2667    3651    1579    2132    3097
> I       18377   3407      454     824     449   3746
> and     15521   2377    2174      891   1006    2450
> to      13598   1716    1395      905   1021    1983
> of      12834   1647    1557      941   1127    1887
> it      12440   2160      916     497     493   2449
> you     12036   2283      356     293     106   2435
>
> I've encountered two problems when I try to construct and save the file.
>
> The "combined.sorted.freq.list" is a named integer vector in which the
> integers are the total frequency counts for each word. The names are
> the words. For each of the individual lists I've created frequency
> lists that are sorted in the order of the combined list. (NAs have
> been replaced with "0"). These are called "combined." plus the number
> of the file.
> If I were to write the line to save the file manually, it would look like this:
>
> combined.table<-paste(names(combined.sorted.freq.list),
> combined.sorted.freq.list, combined.01, combined.02, combined.03,
> combined.04, combined.05, combined.06, combined.07, combined.08,
> combined.09, combined.10, combined.11, combined.12, sep="\t")
> #creates a table with columns for the combined and all of the
> component lists
>
> However, each time I run the script, there may be a differing number
> of text files. I created a list of the individual frequency counts
> called "combined.file.list"
>
> combined.file.count<-1:length(selected.files) #counts number of files
> originally selected
> combined.file.list<-paste("combined", combined.file.count, sep=".")
> #creates the file names for the combined lists by catenating
> "combined" with each file number separated by a period by recycled the
> string "combined for each number
>
> I then tried to include it as one of the elements to be pasted by using get().
>
> combined.table<-paste(names(combined.sorted.freq.list),
> combined.sorted.freq.list, get(combined.file.list[]), sep="\t")
> #intended to create a table with columns for the combined and all of
> the component lists
>
> Unfortunately, the get() function only gets the first component list
> since get() can apparently only access one object.
>
> This results in a table with only the total frequency and the amount
> of the first text:
>
> Word  Total     01.txt
> the     22442   2667
> I       18377   3407
> and     15521   2377
> to      13598   1716
> of      12834   1647
> it      12440   2160
> you     12036   2283
>
> If I try to construct the file "piece by piece" as they are created, I
> get an error message that a vector of more than 1.3 Gb cannot be
> created. Does anyone know how I could use get() or some other method
> to access all of the files named in a vector?
>
> Many thank for any help you can offer!
>
> Joseph
>
> ______________________________________________
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> 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.
>



-- 
Joshua Wiley
Ph.D. Student, Health Psychology
Programmer Analyst II, ATS Statistical Consulting Group
University of California, Los Angeles
https://joshuawiley.com/