a working solution to the problem, a <- DBquery[names(lookup)]
mother.of.lookup <- list() for(string in names(a)) { a[[string]] <- names(a[[string]]) mother.of.lookup[[string]] <- setdiff(a[[string]], lookup[[string]]) } identical(mother.of.lookup, result) It might not be the most elegant solution, but it works. Best, Eric On Thu, Mar 29, 2012 at 4:07 AM, Jim Holtman <jholt...@gmail.com> wrote: > > ?setdiff > > Sent from my iPad > > On Mar 29, 2012, at 4:28, "Eric Fail" <eric.f...@gmx.us> wrote: > > > Dear R experts, > > > > I've realized that it might not be possible to define a negative SELCET > > statement in a SQL call so now I'm looking for the smoothest way to > > generate a list of what I would like from my large database by first > > pulling all the names with a query like this "SELECT top 1 * FROM > > your_table" (thank you Bart Joosen for the idea) and then subtract the > > variables I am not allow to pull manually ending up with a 'positive' > > definition of what I want, something I can use in a SQL SELCT statement > > (see my email on this list from yesterday for more on that). > > > > When I query the database for the variable names I get something similar to > > 'DBquery' in my working example below, but considerable longer with over > > 2400 hundred variables. As I only need to remove two or three variables I > > would like to define a lookup table (like the list 'lookup' in my example) > > and subtract that from my data base query. Now to my question. Is there a > > way I can subtract one list from another? Like setoff or alike? > > > > I would like to end up with a list like the one shown in my example called > > 'result.' In short, I would like to subtract 'lookup' from 'DBquery' and > > end up with 'result,' please note that 'result' is a list fo vecktors and > > not a list of dataframes. In my real life example DBquery is considerable > > longer so defining that by hand would make a really really long syntax. > > > > Hope someone know some smart function that I can use to solve my problem in > > an elegant way. > > > > Thanks for reading. > > > > Erick > > > > ###### begin R code ###### > > > > DBquery <- list(tableA=data.frame(id = numeric(0), atwin = numeric(0), > > atrout = numeric(0)), > > tableB=data.frame(id = numeric(0), mq = numeric(0), z > > = numeric(0), m = numeric(0)), > > tableC=data.frame(V1 = numeric(0), mfn = numeric(0), > > iiff = numeric(0)), > > tableD=data.frame(id = numeric(0), msf = > > numeric(0), oom = numeric(0))) > > > > lookup <- list(tableA= c('atwin', 'atrout'), > > tableB= c('m', 'z'), > > tableC= 'ALL') > > > > ### ... > > > > result <- list(tableA= c('id'), > > tableB= c('id', 'mq'), > > tableC= c('V1', 'mfn', 'iiff')) > > > > ______________________________________________ > > 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. ______________________________________________ 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.