pass character vector in instrument field of get.hist.quote function

[algotr8der]

I am new to R so I apologize if my question is trivial. I have not been able to figure out whether what I want to do is even possible.

I have a data frame of stock ticker symbols which I store into R space from a txt file as follows:

tickers <- read.csv("stocks.txt", header=FALSE, sep=",")
tickers <- tickers[1]     / the tickers are stored in the first column

> tickers
    V1
1 BCSI
2 WBSN
3 NTAP
4 FFIV
5   SU

> is.vector(tickers)
[1] FALSE
>
> is.data.frame(tickers)
[1] TRUE

I tried to do the following without success.

stockdata <- data.frame()
stockdata <- coredata(get.hist.quote(instruments=tickers, start="2011-01-01", end="2011-01-31", quote=c("Close"), provider="yahoo"))

Error in get.hist.quote(instruments = tickers, start = "2011-01-01", end = "2011-01-31",  :
  unused argument(s) (instruments = tickers)

So I coerced the data stored in 'tickers' to be a character as follows:

> as.character(tickers)

Then I tried to execute get.hist.quote as above with the same erro.

stockdata <- coredata(get.hist.quote(instruments=tickers, start="2011-01-01", end="2011-01-31", quote=c("Close"), provider="yahoo"))

Error in get.hist.quote(instruments = tickers, start = "2011-01-01", end = "2011-01-31",  :
  unused argument(s) (instruments = tickers)

I dont want to use loops because of inefficiencies. I know in Matlab I can take advantage of the matrix/vector environment by passing a variable as a vector. I think there should be a clean way to do what I want to do. I have 1500+ tickers and I dont want to cycle through each of them in a loop.

I would greatly appreciate some guidance.

[David Winsemius]

On Mar 12, 2011, at 3:08 PM, algotr8der wrote:

> I am new to R so I apologize if my question is trivial. I have not  
> been able
> to figure out whether what I want to do is even possible.
>
> I have a data frame of stock ticker symbols which I store into R  
> space from
> a txt file as follows:
>
> tickers <- read.csv("stocks.txt", header=FALSE, sep=",")
> tickers <- tickers[1]     / the tickers are stored in the first column
>
>> tickers
>    V1
> 1 BCSI
> 2 WBSN
> 3 NTAP
> 4 FFIV
> 5   SU
>
>> is.vector(tickers)
> [1] FALSE
>>
>> is.data.frame(tickers)
> [1] TRUE
>
> I tried to do the following without success.
>
> stockdata <- data.frame()
> stockdata <- coredata(get.hist.quote(instruments=tickers,
> start="2011-01-01", end="2011-01-31", quote=c("Close"),  
> provider="yahoo"))
>
> Error in get.hist.quote(instruments = tickers, start = "2011-01-01",  
> end =
> "2011-01-31",  :
>  unused argument(s) (instruments = tickers)
>
> So I coerced the data stored in 'tickers' to be a character as  
> follows:
>
>> as.character(tickers)

No, you did not. You need to make an assignment of any result, AND you  
need to reference the column name:

tickers$V1 <- as.character(tickers$V1)

You should also have reference the package from which get.hist.quote  
was being used.

--
david.

>
> Then I tried to execute get.hist.quote as above with the same erro.
>
> stockdata <- coredata(get.hist.quote(instruments=tickers,
> start="2011-01-01", end="2011-01-31", quote=c("Close"),  
> provider="yahoo"))
>
> Error in get.hist.quote(instruments = tickers, start = "2011-01-01",  
> end =
> "2011-01-31",  :
>  unused argument(s) (instruments = tickers)
>
> I dont want to use loops because of inefficiencies. I know in Matlab  
> I can
> take advantage of the matrix/vector environment by passing a  
> variable as a
> vector. I think there should be a clean way to do what I want to do.  
> I have
> 1500+ tickers and I dont want to cycle through each of them in a loop.
>
> I would greatly appreciate some guidance.
>
> --
> View this message in context: http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/pass-character-vector-in-instrument-field-of-get-hist-quote-function-tp3350779p3350779.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.

David Winsemius, MD
West Hartford, CT

______________________________________________
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[algotr8der]

Thanks David for the reply. I just tried the following with the same result:

>library(tseries)
>tickers <- read.csv("testticker.txt", header=FALSE, sep=",")
>tickers <- tickers[1]
     V1
1   XOM
2   COP
3 PBR-A
4  FFIV
5    SU
6 PBR-B


> tickers$V1 <- as.character(tickers$V1)
> tickers$V1
[1] "XOM"   "COP"   "PBR-A" "FFIV"  "SU"    "PBR-B"

> symbols <- tickers$V1
> symbols
[1] "XOM"   "COP"   "PBR-A" "FFIV"  "SU"    "PBR-B"

> stockdata <- data.frame()
> stockdata <- coredata(get.hist.quote(instruments=symbols, start="2011-01-01", end="2011-01-31", quote=c("Close"), provider="yahoo"))
Error in get.hist.quote(instruments = symbols, start = "2011-01-01", end = "2011-01-31",  :
  unused argument(s) (instruments = symbols)

[David Winsemius]

On Mar 13, 2011, at 12:18 AM, algotr8der wrote:

> Thanks David for the reply. I just tried the following with the same  
> result:
>
>> library(tseries)
>> tickers <- read.csv("testticker.txt", header=FALSE, sep=",")
>> tickers <- tickers[1]
>     V1
> 1   XOM
> 2   COP
> 3 PBR-A
> 4  FFIV
> 5    SU
> 6 PBR-B
>
>
>> tickers$V1 <- as.character(tickers$V1)
>> tickers$V1
> [1] "XOM"   "COP"   "PBR-A" "FFIV"  "SU"    "PBR-B"
>
>> symbols <- tickers$V1
>> symbols
> [1] "XOM"   "COP"   "PBR-A" "FFIV"  "SU"    "PBR-B"
>
>> stockdata <- data.frame()
>> stockdata <- coredata(get.hist.quote(instruments=symbols,
>> start="2011-01-01", end="2011-01-31", quote=c("Close"),  
>> provider="yahoo"))
> Error in get.hist.quote(instruments = symbols, start = "2011-01-01",  
> end =
> "2011-01-31",  :
>  unused argument(s) (instruments = symbols)

You might want to look more closely at:

?get.hist.quote

Note the name of the first argument .... and then note that it does  
not say "names" but only a "name" would be accepted as a value to that  
argument.

stockdata <- coredata(get.hist.quote(instrument=symbols,
+ start="2011-01-01", end="2011-01-31", quote=c("Close"),  
provider="yahoo"))
trying URL 'http://chart.yahoo.com/table.csv?s=XOM&a=0&b=01&c=2011&d=0&e=31&f=2011&g=d&q=q&y=0&z=XOM&x=.csv'
Content type 'text/csv' length unknown
opened URL
.
downloaded 1042 bytes

time series starts 2011-01-03
Warning message:
In download.file(url, destfile, method = method, quiet = quiet) :
   only first element of 'url' argument used

(So this is telling you that get.hist.quote did not accept a vector of  
characters.)

You should be thinking about what data structure you want to work  
with. A dataframe does not seem like a good choice to me. I would be  
thinking of a list.

res <- lapply(symbols[1:5],  get.hist.quote, start="2011-01-01",  
end="2011-01-31", quote=c("Close"), provider="yahoo")
names(res) <- symbols[1:5]

The examples suggested that a 'merge' operation might also be used.  
Perhaps you should be looking for a vignette that shows how to  
assemble a "portfolio" of timeseries.

--

David Winsemius, MD
West Hartford, CT

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[djmuseR]

Hi:

(1) The first argument to get.hist.quote() is instrument, not instruments. I
concur with David that get.hist.quote()
      takes a single character string as an argument.

(2) I tried running this with lapply() but got a download error on the last
one:

getStockData("PBR-B")
trying URL '
http://chart.yahoo.com/table.csv?s=PBR-B&a=0&b=01&c=2011&d=0&e=31&f=2011&g=d&q=q&y=0&z=PBR-B&x=.csv
'
Error in download.file(url, destfile, method = method, quiet = quiet) :
  cannot open URL '
http://chart.yahoo.com/table.csv?s=PBR-B&a=0&b=01&c=2011&d=0&e=31&f=2011&g=d&q=q&y=0&z=PBR-B&x=.csv
'
In addition: Warning message:
In download.file(url, destfile, method = method, quiet = quiet) :
  cannot open: HTTP status was '404 Not Found'


If we take out that (last) symbol , convert the remaining symbols to a
vector, create a simple download function and use lapply(), then...

Tickers <- as.vector(unlist(tickers))[-6]          # character vector
getStockData <- function(symbols)  {
     coredata(get.hist.quote(instrument = symbols,
              start="2011-01-01", end="2011-01-31",
              quote=c("Close"), provider="yahoo"))
    }
stockdata <- lapply(Tickers, getStockData)     # produces a list of five
components
names(stockdata) <- Tickers
stockdata[[1]]
$XOM
      Close
 [1,] 74.55
 [2,] 74.90
 [3,] 74.70
<snip>
[18,] 79.88
[19,] 78.99
[20,] 80.68

HTH,
Dennis


On Sat, Mar 12, 2011 at 9:18 PM, algotr8der <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Thanks David for the reply. I just tried the following with the same
> result:
>
> >library(tseries)
> >tickers <- read.csv("testticker.txt", header=FALSE, sep=",")
> >tickers <- tickers[1]
>     V1
> 1   XOM
> 2   COP
> 3 PBR-A
> 4  FFIV
> 5    SU
> 6 PBR-B
>
>
> > tickers$V1 <- as.character(tickers$V1)
> > tickers$V1
> [1] "XOM"   "COP"   "PBR-A" "FFIV"  "SU"    "PBR-B"
>
> > symbols <- tickers$V1
> > symbols
> [1] "XOM"   "COP"   "PBR-A" "FFIV"  "SU"    "PBR-B"
>
> > stockdata <- data.frame()
> > stockdata <- coredata(get.hist.quote(instruments=symbols,
> > start="2011-01-01", end="2011-01-31", quote=c("Close"),
> provider="yahoo"))
> Error in get.hist.quote(instruments = symbols, start = "2011-01-01", end =
> "2011-01-31",  :
>  unused argument(s) (instruments = symbols)
>
>
>
> --
> View this message in context:
> http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/pass-character-vector-in-instrument-field-of-get-hist-quote-function-tp3350779p3351331.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]]

______________________________________________
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[David Winsemius]

On Mar 13, 2011, at 1:28 AM, Dennis Murphy wrote:

> Hi:
>
> (1) The first argument to get.hist.quote() is instrument, not  
> instruments. I
> concur with David that get.hist.quote()
>      takes a single character string as an argument.
>
> (2) I tried running this with lapply() but got a download error on  
> the last
> one:
>
> getStockData("PBR-B")
> trying URL '
> http://chart.yahoo.com/table.csv?s=PBR-B&a=0&b=01&c=2011&d=0&e=31&f=2011&g=d&q=q&y=0&z=PBR-B&x=.csv
> '
> Error in download.file(url, destfile, method = method, quiet =  
> quiet) :
>  cannot open URL '
> http://chart.yahoo.com/table.csv?s=PBR-B&a=0&b=01&c=2011&d=0&e=31&f=2011&g=d&q=q&y=0&z=PBR-B&x=.csv
> '
> In addition: Warning message:
> In download.file(url, destfile, method = method, quiet = quiet) :
>  cannot open: HTTP status was '404 Not Found'
>
>
> If we take out that (last) symbol , convert the remaining symbols to a
> vector, create a simple download function and use lapply(), then...
>
> Tickers <- as.vector(unlist(tickers))[-6]          # character vector
> getStockData <- function(symbols)  {
>     coredata(get.hist.quote(instrument = symbols,

Is there a particular reason to use `coredata` here? I got pretty much  
identical results with the method I illustrated without it, except  
that my approach preserved the dates, while yours removed the date  
rownames. That would not seem to be an improvement.

 > res[[1]]
            Close
2011-01-03 74.55
2011-01-04 74.90
2011-01-05 74.70
snipped
2011-01-28 78.99
2011-01-31 80.68

>              start="2011-01-01", end="2011-01-31",
>              quote=c("Close"), provider="yahoo"))
>    }
> stockdata <- lapply(Tickers, getStockData)     # produces a list of  
> five
> components
> names(stockdata) <- Tickers
> stockdata[[1]]
> $XOM
>      Close
> [1,] 74.55
> [2,] 74.90
> [3,] 74.70
> <snip>
> [18,] 79.88
> [19,] 78.99
> [20,] 80.68
>
> HTH,
> Dennis
>
>
> On Sat, Mar 12, 2011 at 9:18 PM, algotr8der <[hidden email]>  
> wrote:
>
>> Thanks David for the reply. I just tried the following with the same
>> result:
>>
>>> library(tseries)
>>> tickers <- read.csv("testticker.txt", header=FALSE, sep=",")
>>> tickers <- tickers[1]
>>    V1
>> 1   XOM
>> 2   COP
>> 3 PBR-A
>> 4  FFIV
>> 5    SU
>> 6 PBR-B
>>
>>
>>> tickers$V1 <- as.character(tickers$V1)
>>> tickers$V1
>> [1] "XOM"   "COP"   "PBR-A" "FFIV"  "SU"    "PBR-B"
>>
>>> symbols <- tickers$V1
>>> symbols
>> [1] "XOM"   "COP"   "PBR-A" "FFIV"  "SU"    "PBR-B"
>>
>>> stockdata <- data.frame()
>>> stockdata <- coredata(get.hist.quote(instruments=symbols,
>>> start="2011-01-01", end="2011-01-31", quote=c("Close"),
>> provider="yahoo"))
>> Error in get.hist.quote(instruments = symbols, start =  
>> "2011-01-01", end =
>> "2011-01-31",  :
>> unused argument(s) (instruments = symbols)
>>

David Winsemius, MD
West Hartford, CT

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[algotr8der]

Thank you all. Your solutions work. I suppose it doesnt matter whether I use coredata or not (at least for my current purposes). I have created a user-defined function and have saved it in a ".R" file in my current working directory. But now I'm not sure how to invoke this function. R complains that it cannot find the function.

If I copy and paste the function code into the R console and call it after that everything works fine. Is there a way to bring that function into memory by giving a path to its location? I imagine that I will have many user-defined functions written in their own '.R' files over time.

Thank you all.

[David Winsemius]

On Mar 13, 2011, at 2:29 PM, algotr8der wrote:

> Thank you all. Your solutions work. I suppose it doesnt matter  
> whether I use
> coredata or not (at least for my current purposes). I have created a
> user-defined function and have saved it in a ".R" file in my current  
> working
> directory. But now I'm not sure how to invoke this function. R  
> complains
> that it cannot find the function.
>
> If I copy and paste the function code into the R console and call it  
> after
> that everything works fine. Is there a way to bring that function into
> memory by giving a path to its location?

?source

> I imagine that I will have many
> user-defined functions written in their own '.R' files over time.
>
> Thank you all.


David Winsemius, MD
West Hartford, CT

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and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.

[Joshua Ulrich]

Sorry for the late reply.  Here's another approach using
quantmod::getSymbols.  It implicitly loops over a vector of tickers.

require(quantmod)
getSymbols(tickers[,1], from="2011-01-01", to="2011-01-31")
# If you want to merge all the close prices into one object:
ClosePrices <- do.call(merge, lapply(tickers[,1], function(x) Cl(get(x))))
head(ClosePrices)
#            BCSI.Close WBSN.Close NTAP.Close FFIV.Close SU.Close
# 2011-01-03      30.50      20.36      57.41     134.33    38.82
# 2011-01-04      30.24      19.82      57.38     132.07    38.03
# 2011-01-05      31.36      19.90      57.87     137.29    38.40
# 2011-01-06      32.04      19.79      57.49     138.07    37.23
# 2011-01-07      31.95      19.77      57.20     138.35    37.30
# 2011-01-10      31.55      19.76      58.22     142.69    37.04

Hope that helps,
--
Joshua Ulrich  |  FOSS Trading: www.fosstrading.com



On Sun, Mar 13, 2011 at 1:29 PM, algotr8der <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Thank you all. Your solutions work. I suppose it doesnt matter whether I use
> coredata or not (at least for my current purposes). I have created a
> user-defined function and have saved it in a ".R" file in my current working
> directory. But now I'm not sure how to invoke this function. R complains
> that it cannot find the function.
>
> If I copy and paste the function code into the R console and call it after
> that everything works fine. Is there a way to bring that function into
> memory by giving a path to its location? I imagine that I will have many
> user-defined functions written in their own '.R' files over time.
>
> Thank you all.
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> View this message in context: http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/pass-character-vector-in-instrument-field-of-get-hist-quote-function-tp3350779p3352344.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.

[algotr8der]

Hi Joshua,

THank you for showing me how to use getSymbols. I am trying to follow the example you provided. However I am having some difficulty using the various combination of functions you have used. I tried to execute one step at a time as follows -

I have a ticker vector that looks like the following:

> tickers
 [1] "SPY" "DIA" "IWM" "SMH" "OIH" "XLY" "XLP" "XLE" "XLI" "XLB" "XLK" "XLU" "XLV"
[14] "QQQ"
> str(tickers)
 chr [1:14] "SPY" "DIA" "IWM" "SMH" "OIH" "XLY" "XLP" "XLE" ...

I wrote a function called myX to use in the lapply call. It has the following code:

myX <- function(tickers, start, end) {
require(quantmod)
getSymbols(tickers, from=start, to=end)
}


1) Call lapply by itself

>lapply(tickers,myX,start="2001-03-01", end="2011-03-11")

> lapply(tickers,myX,start="2001-03-01", end="2011-03-11")
[[1]]
[1] "SPY"

[[2]]
[1] "DIA"

[[3]]
[1] "IWM"

[[4]]
[1] "SMH"

[[5]]
[1] "OIH"

[[6]]
[1] "XLY"

[[7]]
[1] "XLP"

[[8]]
[1] "XLE"

[[9]]
[1] "XLI"

[[10]]
[1] "XLB"

[[11]]
[1] "XLK"

[[12]]
[1] "XLU"

[[13]]
[1] "XLV"

[[14]]
[1] "QQQ"

So this works fine and I can inspect the value of any of the tickers i.e. SPY.

Now I want to extract the Closing prices.

2) I did Cl(SPY) and this outputs the data in the Close column as expected. However, I am not sure how to extract the Closing prices of each of the elements inside the data structure returned by lapply, which I believe is a list structure. I want to merge them into one object as you did but I cant seem to follow.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

[David Winsemius]

On Apr 6, 2011, at 12:06 PM, algotr8der wrote:

> Hi Joshua,
>
> THank you for showing me how to use getSymbols. I am trying to  
> follow the
> example you provided. However I am having some difficulty using the  
> various
> combination of functions you have used. I tried to execute one step  
> at a
> time as follows -
>
> I have a ticker vector that looks like the following:
>
>> tickers
> [1] "SPY" "DIA" "IWM" "SMH" "OIH" "XLY" "XLP" "XLE" "XLI" "XLB"  
> "XLK" "XLU"
> "XLV"
> [14] "QQQ"
>> str(tickers)
> chr [1:14] "SPY" "DIA" "IWM" "SMH" "OIH" "XLY" "XLP" "XLE" ...
>
> I wrote a function called myX to use in the lapply call. It has the
> following code:
>
> myX <- function(tickers, start, end) {
> require(quantmod) # this only needs to be called once.
> getSymbols(tickers, from=start, to=end)
> }
>
>
> 1) Call lapply by itself
>
>> lapply(tickers,myX,start="2001-03-01", end="2011-03-11")
>
>> lapply(tickers,myX,start="2001-03-01", end="2011-03-11")
> [[1]]
> [1] "SPY"
>
> [[2]]
> [1] "DIA"
>

only needed to use three for demonstration purposes

>
> [[14]]
> [1] "QQQ"
>
> So this works fine and I can inspect the value of any of the tickers  
> i.e.
> SPY.
>
> Now I want to extract the Closing prices.
>
> 2) I did Cl(SPY) and this outputs the data in the Close column as  
> expected.
> However, I am not sure how to extract the Closing prices of each of  
> the
> elements inside the data structure returned by lapply, which I  
> believe is a
> list structure. I want to merge them into one object as you did but  
> I cant
> seem to follow.

As pointed out by Joshua Ulrich this was crossposted on SO. Here is  
the code I posted there:

 > ClosePrices <- do.call(cbind, lapply(tickers,  function(x)  
Cl(get(x))))
 > head(ClosePrices)
            SPY.Close DIA.Close QQQ.Close
2001-03-01    124.60    104.68     48.80
2001-03-02    123.61    104.80     46.70
2001-03-05    124.74    105.57     47.55
2001-03-06    126.08    106.15     49.40
2001-03-07    126.98    107.45     49.42
2001-03-08    127.12    108.61     48.50

--

David Winsemius, MD
West Hartford, CT

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[MatAra]

Hello gentlemen,

This is a great discussion. Thank you all for providing useful answers.
I am also new to R, was working mostly with SAS before, and have a question regarding passing arguments to R functions that are wrapped in quotes.

Using the previous example:
getSymbols(tickers, from="start", to="end")

Given that "start/end" are quoted, how can I pass a date xx-xx-xxxx to R when I am invoking a custom function, like:

flex<- (start, end){
getSymbols(tickers, from="start", to="end")
}
flex(xx-xx-xxxx,xx-xx-xxxx)  

I have tried different combinations but I haven't been able to pass the correct date, R simply doesn't capture the value. The same issue was happening with tickers, although there is a way around the issue, the original problem remains....passing an argument that's quoted in the function.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Cheers!

[jholtman]

Depends on what you want to do with the date.  If it is a character
string, then just quote it:

 flex("xx-xx-xxxx","xx-xx-xxxx")

If you want it as a Date or POSIXct object, then convert it:

flex(as.Date('2011-05-01"), as.Date('2011;05-31"))

It all depends on how you are using it in your custom function.  In
either case you still enclose it in quotes.

On Wed, May 11, 2011 at 5:44 PM, MatAra <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Hello gentlemen,
>
> This is a great discussion. Thank you all for providing useful answers.
> I am also new to R, was working mostly with SAS before, and have a question
> regarding passing arguments to R functions that are wrapped in quotes.
>
> Using the previous example:
> getSymbols(tickers, from="start", to="end")
>
> Given that "start/end" are quoted, how can I pass a date xx-xx-xxxx to R
> when I am invoking a custom function, like:
>
> flex<- (start, end){
> getSymbols(tickers, from="start", to="end")
> }
> flex(xx-xx-xxxx,xx-xx-xxxx)
>
> I have tried different combinations but I haven't been able to pass the
> correct date, R simply doesn't capture the value. The same issue was
> happening with tickers, although there is a way around the issue, the
> original problem remains....passing an argument that's quoted in the
> function.
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated!
> Cheers!
>
>
>
> --
> View this message in context: http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/pass-character-vector-in-instrument-field-of-get-hist-quote-function-tp3350779p3515936.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?

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PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
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[MatAra]

Thanks a lot for your reply Jim.

I want to be able to run flex(xx-xx-xxxx,xx-xx-xxxx) at multiple date ranges, but couldn't make it work because I wasn't using the correct syntax.

I will give it a try and post my findings (not too spectacular, of course).
Thanks again,
Mateo