Richard,

Thanks for your observation and tip.

My apologies that the 'expr' seemed undefined.  That was intentional on my part as I only wanted to show the form of the non-working code.  Let me be clearer by updating the code with what I actually type at the command line.  The code below does not work (error message included).


x <- c("Choice 1", "Choice 2", "Choice 3")
switch("Choice 2", x[1]="My first choice", x[2]="My 2nd choice", x[3]="My 3rd choice")
Error: unexpected '=' in "switch("Choice 2", x[1]="

On an earlier reply, David Winsemius suggested using the 'match' function instead.  Perhaps that is the way to go, bypassing 'switch' altogether.  But I would like to know why the code above does not work.


Again, many thanks,
Mauricio



________________________________
From: Richard M. Heiberger <rmh@temple.edu>

Cc: "r-help@r-project.org" <r-help@r-project.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2011 6:59 PM
Subject: Re: [R] How to use 'switch' with strings containing spaces?


The problem is that your argument expr is undefined.
 
This works
 
> switch("Choice 2", "Choice 1"="My first choice", "Choice 2"="My 2nd choice", "Choice 3"="My 3rd choice")
[1] "My 2nd choice"
> x <- "Choice 2"
> switch(x, "Choice 1"="My first choice", "Choice 2"="My 2nd choice", "Choice 3"="My 3rd choice")
[1] "My 2nd choice"
> 
 


 
On Tue, Aug 16, 2011 at 4:53 PM, Mauricio Cornejo <mauriciocornejo@yahoo.com> wrote:

Hi,
>
>Does anyone know if the alternatives in the 'switch' function can be specified as strings containing spaces?  Neither of the two approaches below works.
>
>
>switch(expr, "Choice 1"="My first choice", "Choice 2"="My 2nd choice", "Choice 3"="My 3rd choice")
>
>
>x <- c("Choice 1", "Choice 2", "Choice 3")
>switch(expr, x[1]="My first choice", x[2]="My 2nd choice", x[3]="My 3rd choice")
>
>
>If the intended functionality can be achieved by a different function(s), I'd most appreciate such a suggestion as well.
>
>Many thanks,
>Mauricio
>
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