Well, if your problem is that a workspace is being loaded automatically and you don't want that workspace, you have several options:
1. Use a different directory for each project so that the file loaded by default is the correct one. 2. Don't save your workspace, but regenerate it each time. 3. Use R --vanilla or your OS's equivalent to start R without loading anything automatically, and use load() and save() to manually manage RData files. Yes, it's convenient, but if you want to use a non-standard way of working you need to understand what you're doing. Sarah On Thu, Nov 17, 2011 at 3:10 AM, Steven Yen <s...@utk.edu> wrote: > Thanks Sarah. I have read about the problems with attach(), and I will try > to avoid it. > I have now found the line that's causing the problem is: > > setwd("z:/homework") > > With that line in place, either in a program or in Rprofile.site (?), then > the moment I run R and simply enter (before reading any data) > summary(mydata) > I get sample statistics for a dozen variables! > > Do not save the workspace? I thought the option to save/use a binary file is > meant to be convenient. > > I like working in the same working directory, and I like .rdata files. Does > this sound hopeless? Thanks. > > At 09:26 PM 11/15/2011, Sarah Goslee wrote: > > Hi, > > The obvious answer is don't use attach() and you'll never have > that problem. And see further comments inline. > > On Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 6:05 PM, Steven Yen <s...@utk.edu> wrote: >> Can someone help me with this variable/data reading issue? >> I read a csv file and transform/create an additional variable (called y). >> >> The first set of commands below produced different sample statistics >> for hw11$y and y >> >> In the second set of command I renameuse the variable name yy, and >> sample statistics for $hw11$yy and yy are identical. >> >> Using y <- yy fixed it, but I am not sure why I would need to do that. >> >> That "y" appeared to have come from a variable called "y" from >> another data frame (unrelated to the current run). >> >> Help! >> >> > setwd("z:/homework") >> > sink ("z:/homework/hw11.our", append=T, split=T) >> > hw11 <- read.csv("ij10b.csv",header=T) >> > hw11$y <- hw11$e3 >> > attach(hw11) >> The following object(s) are masked _by_ '.GlobalEnv': >> y > > Look there. R even *told* you that it was going to use the > y in the global environment rather than the one you were > trying to attach. > > The other solution: don't save your workspace. Your other > email on this topic suggested to me that there is a .RData > file in your preferred working directory that contains an > object y, and that's what is interfering with what you think > should happen. > > Deleting that file, or using a different directory, or removing > y before you attach the data frame would all work. > > But truly, the best possible strategy is to avoid using attach() > so you don't have to worry about which object named y is > really being used because you specify it explicitly. > > >> > (n <- dim(hw11)[1]) >> [1] 13765 >> > summary(hw11$y) >> Min. 1st Qu. Median Mean 3rd Qu. Max. >> 0.0000 0.4500 1.0000 1.6726 2.0000 140.0000 >> > length(hw11$y) >> [1] 13765 >> > summary(y) >> Min. 1st Qu. Median Mean 3rd Qu. Max. >> 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.24958 0.00000 1.00000 >> > length(y) >> [1] 601 >> > >> >> > setwd("z:/homework") >> > sink ("z:/homework/hw11.our", append=T, split=T) >> > hw11 <- read.csv("ij10b.csv",header=T) >> > hw11$yy <- hw11$e3 >> > attach(hw11) >> > hw11$yy <- hw11$e3 >> > summary(hw11$yy) >> Min. 1st Qu. Median Mean 3rd Qu. Max. >> 0.0000 0.4500 1.0000 1.6726 2.0000 140.0000 >> > length(hw11$yy) >> [1] 13765 >> > summary(yy) >> Min. 1st Qu. Median Mean 3rd Qu. Max. >> 0.0000 0.4500 1.0000 1.6726 2.0000 140.0000 >> > length(yy) >> [1] 13765 >> > >> > ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org 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.