(R) Importing Strange Data Formats

Today’s entry will discuss additional aspects pertaining to the R data importing process.

Importing an Excel File into the R Platform

To import a Microsoft excel file into the R platform, you must first download the R package: “readxl”. It is important to note, prior to proceeding, that files read into R from excel still maintain the escape characters that were present within the original format (\r, \t, etc.)

# With the package: ‘readxl’ downloaded and enabled #

# Import a single workbook sheet #

ExcelFile <- read_excel("A:\\FilePath\\File.xlsx")

# Import a single workbook sheet by specifying a specific sheet (3) for import #

ExcelFile <- read_excel("A:\\FilePath\\File.xlsx",  sheet = 3)

Export a Data Frame with a Specified Delineator

There may be instances in which another party may request that you utilize a specific character to act as a data delineator. In the case of our example, we will be utilizing the “|” (pipe-character) to demonstrate functionality.

# Export Pipe-Delineated Data #

write.table(PipeExport, file = "A\\FilePath\\PipeExport.txt", sep = "|", col.names = NA, row.names = TRUE)

Import a Data Frame with a Specified Delineator

There will also be instances, in which another party may provide data which utilizes a specific character to act as a data delineator. Again for our example, we will be utilizing the “|” (pipe-character) to demonstrate functionality.

PipeImport <- read.delim("A\\FilePath\\PipeImport.txt", fill = TRUE, header = TRUE, sep = "|")

That’s all for now. Stay subscribed, Data Heads!