[R-sig-eco] remove elements from a list

[Karl Cottenie]

Hey,

I want to eliminate certain elements from a list, but when I do this,  
the list structure gets completely broken.

 > a <- list(list(list(1,2,3)))
 > a
[[1]]
[[1]][[1]]
[[1]][[1]][[1]]
[1] 1

[[1]][[1]][[2]]
[1] 2

[[1]][[1]][[3]]
[1] 3


 > a[[1]][[1]][-1]
[[1]]
[1] 2

[[2]]
[1] 3

How can I preserve the original list structure, i.e. such that the  
output is

[[1]]
[[1]][[1]]
[[1]][[1]][[1]]
[1] 2

[[1]][[1]][[2]]
[1] 3

And why is R doing this, what is the logic for this behaviour?

Thanks a lot,

Karl



----------------------------------------------
Karl Cottenie
Assistant Professor
Integrative Biology
University of Guelph
Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1

cottenie at uoguelph.ca
519 824 4120, ext. 52554