[R] CSV value not being read as it appears

[bgreen at dyson.brisnet.org.au]

I have a frustrating issue which I am hoping someone may have a suggestion
about.

I am running XP and R 2.12.0 and saved an EXCEL file that I was sent as a
csv file.

The initial code I ran follows.

dec <- read.csv("g://FMH/FO30122010.csv",header=T)
dec.open <- subset (dec, Status == "Open")
table(dec.open$AMHS)

I was checking the output and noticed a difference between my manual count
and R output. Two subject's rows were not being detected by the subset
command:

For the AMHS where there was a discrepancy I then ran:
wm <- subset (dec, AMHS == "WM")

The problem appears to be that there is a space before the 'Open" value
for two indivduals, as per the example below.

10/02/2010  Open
22/08/2007   Open

Checking in EXCEL there does not appear to be a space and the format is
the same (e.g 'general').  I resolved the problem by copying over the
values for the two individuals where I identified  a problem.

Given this problem was not detected by visual scanning I would appreciate
advice on how this problem can be detected in future without my having to
manually check raw data against R output.

Any assistance is appreciated,

Bob