Help - Importing data from txt and xlsx files

[AMFTom]

Hi all,

I have just started to use R for my PhD project and have no previous experience in programming. I am having trouble importing data to R.   This is the output:

> mydata <- read.table("Lv2.8.txt")
Error in file(file, "rt") : cannot open the connection
In addition: Warning message:
In file(file, "rt") :
  cannot open file 'Lv2.8.txt': No such file or directory

I know there is a file on my computer with this name though... What am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance!

Tom

[ONKELINX, Thierry]

Dear Tom,

R does not searches your entire file system for the file. It only looks in the working directory. Have a look at ?setwd() and ?getwd()

So you will need to set the working directory, use a relative path to the file or use and absolute path to the file.

Best regards,

ir. Thierry Onkelinx
Instituut voor natuur- en bosonderzoek / Research Institute for Nature and Forest
team Biometrie & Kwaliteitszorg / team Biometrics & Quality Assurance
Kliniekstraat 25
1070 Anderlecht
Belgium
+ 32 2 525 02 51
+ 32 54 43 61 85
[hidden email]
www.inbo.be

To call in the statistician after the experiment is done may be no more than asking him to perform a post-mortem examination: he may be able to say what the experiment died of.
~ Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher

The plural of anecdote is not data.
~ Roger Brinner

The combination of some data and an aching desire for an answer does not ensure that a reasonable answer can be extracted from a given body of data.
~ John Tukey


-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] Namens AMFTom
Verzonden: vrijdag 13 april 2012 14:29
Aan: [hidden email]
Onderwerp: [R] Help - Importing data from txt and xlsx files

Hi all,

I have just started to use R for my PhD project and have no previous
experience in programming. I am having trouble importing data to R.   This
is the output:

> mydata <- read.table("Lv2.8.txt")
Error in file(file, "rt") : cannot open the connection In addition: Warning message:
In file(file, "rt") :
  cannot open file 'Lv2.8.txt': No such file or directory

I know there is a file on my computer with this name though... What am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance!

Tom

--
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[AMFTom]

Dear Thierry,

Thanks for your help. Now though, I try to import data from a txt file, and it says either

> mydataframe <- read.table("Lv2.8.txt")
Error in scan(file, what, nmax, sep, dec, quote, skip, nlines, na.strings,  :
  line 3 did not have 15 elements

or

> mydataframe <- read.table("Lv2.8.txt", header = TRUE)
Error in read.table("Lv2.8.txt", header = TRUE) :
  more columns than column names

even though I seem to have put a column name into the txt file for each column. Any ideas?

Thanks again!

Tom

[jholtman]

This is a case where you need to provide a sample of your data.  Most
likely it is not in a format that read.table can read with the parameters
you have given it.  It may have different field separators, it might have
"#" in data fields, you might have unbalanced quotes, etc.  So it is a
problem in your data and the way you are trying to read it.  You have to
include  commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.

On Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 10:28 AM, AMFTom <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Dear Thierry,
>
> Thanks for your help. Now though, I try to import data from a txt file, and
> it says either
>
> > mydataframe <- read.table("Lv2.8.txt")
> Error in scan(file, what, nmax, sep, dec, quote, skip, nlines, na.strings,
> :
>  line 3 did not have 15 elements
>
> or
>
> > mydataframe <- read.table("Lv2.8.txt", header = TRUE)
> Error in read.table("Lv2.8.txt", header = TRUE) :
>  more columns than column names
>
> even though I seem to have put a column name into the txt file for each
> column. Any ideas?
>
> Thanks again!
>
> Tom
>
> --
> View this message in context:
> http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/Help-Importing-data-from-txt-and-xlsx-files-tp4554622p4555001.html
> Sent from the R help mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
> ______________________________________________
> [hidden email] mailing list
> 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.
>

--
Jim Holtman
Data Munger Guru

What is the problem that you are trying to solve?
Tell me what you want to do, not how you want to do it.

        [[alternative HTML version deleted]]

______________________________________________
[hidden email] mailing list
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PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.

[MacQueen, Don]

Have you correctly set the value of the 'sep' argument to read.table?

-Don

--
Don MacQueen

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
7000 East Ave., L-627
Livermore, CA 94550
925-423-1062





On 4/13/12 7:28 AM, "AMFTom" <[hidden email]> wrote:

>Dear Thierry,
>
>Thanks for your help. Now though, I try to import data from a txt file,
>and
>it says either
>
>> mydataframe <- read.table("Lv2.8.txt")
>Error in scan(file, what, nmax, sep, dec, quote, skip, nlines,
>na.strings,
>:
>  line 3 did not have 15 elements
>
>or
>
>> mydataframe <- read.table("Lv2.8.txt", header = TRUE)
>Error in read.table("Lv2.8.txt", header = TRUE) :
>  more columns than column names
>
>even though I seem to have put a column name into the txt file for each
>column. Any ideas?
>
>Thanks again!
>
>Tom
>
>--
>View this message in context:
>http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/Help-Importing-data-from-txt-and-xlsx-files-
>tp4554622p4555001.html
>Sent from the R help mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
>______________________________________________
>[hidden email] mailing list
>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.

______________________________________________
[hidden email] mailing list
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.

[steven mosher]

read your file with readLines(). copy the first few lines for me to read
here

test <- readLines(yur filename)
test[1:5]

post the result. we can figure it out from there
On Apr 13, 2012 11:46 AM, "AMFTom" <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Dear Thierry,
>
> Thanks for your help. Now though, I try to import data from a txt file, and
> it says either
>
> > mydataframe <- read.table("Lv2.8.txt")
> Error in scan(file, what, nmax, sep, dec, quote, skip, nlines, na.strings,
> :
>  line 3 did not have 15 elements
>
> or
>
> > mydataframe <- read.table("Lv2.8.txt", header = TRUE)
> Error in read.table("Lv2.8.txt", header = TRUE) :
>  more columns than column names
>
> even though I seem to have put a column name into the txt file for each
> column. Any ideas?
>
> Thanks again!
>
> Tom
>
> --
> View this message in context:
> http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/Help-Importing-data-from-txt-and-xlsx-files-tp4554622p4555001.html
> Sent from the R help mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
> ______________________________________________
> [hidden email] mailing list
> 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.
>

        [[alternative HTML version deleted]]

______________________________________________
[hidden email] mailing list
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.

[AMFTom]

Hi all, it turns out I had left absent data as a blank space instead of filling it with a zero. Now I am able to import data.

Thanks for all your help, I'm sure I will be calling on your expertise in future.

Tom