I haven't used it, but I believe the XLConnect package allows for control on
a cell-by-cell basis. Check out the extensive example given here:
http://www.r-bloggers.com/xlconnect-%E2%80%93-a-platform-independent-interface-to-excel/

Hope this helps,

Michael Weylandt

On Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 8:43 PM, Peter Lomas <peter.lomas@ucalgary.ca>wrote:

> Dear R Users,
>
> I have to read data from many excel spreadsheets, all which have some
> frustrating formatting (lots of titles, headers, etc.).  I am trying
> to work directly from source data and the number of the spreadsheets I
> would have to go through make reformatting one by one a pain.  I have
> found lots of ways to read excel files, but my question is whether
> there is a way to only read "parts" of excel files.  Ex.  Specify
> cells (A1:G20), specify rows and columns to start reading at? Or will
> I have to hack things together after the fact?
>
> The URL below will let you download an example .xls of the kind of
> thing I am working with:
> http://www.filedropper.com/exampletable_1
> I only want/need the "Code" column names, and the "Code" row names,
> and the values. What would be the best way of automating the reading
> of these spreadsheets?
>
> Many thanks,
> Peter
>
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