The tidyr::separate function modifies data frames. You did not give it a data frame. Re-read your preferred R introductory material on what a data frame is (R comes with "Introduction to R").
You also did not give a reproducible example... e.g. does not execute as-is in a clean R work space. library(tidyr) input <- data.frame( kop=rep( "w;d;e;f", 5 ) ) output <- separate( input, kop, into=c( "C1", "C2", "C3", "C4" ), sep=";" ) You really should read the documentation for any contributed package you use. (This presumes that you keep track of the fact that you are using them... which is a good idea as there are thousands of them). I recommend vignette("tidy-data") and ?separate in this case. -- Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity. On November 30, 2016 7:18:19 AM PST, Ferri Leberl <ferri.leb...@gmx.at> wrote: > >Thank to Ulrik for the hint. >However, I don't comprehend the function until now: > >For example I made up an array "input": > >input > kop >[1,] "w;d;e;f" >[2,] "w;d;e;f" >[3,] "w;d;e;f" >[4,] "w;d;e;f" >[5,] "w;d;e;f" > >and tried to break it into four cols with commmand: > >output<-separate(into,kop,into=c("a","b","c","d"),sep=";") > >R returned: > >Fehler in UseMethod("separate_") : >nicht anwendbare Methode für 'separate_' auf Objekt der Klasse >"c('matrix', 'character')" angewendet > >Could you please explain me my mistake? > >Thank you in advance! > >Yours, Ferri > > > > > > > >Gesendet: Dienstag, 22. November 2016 um 14:57 Uhr >Von: "Ulrik Stervbo" <ulrik.ster...@gmail.com> >An: "Ferri Leberl" <ferri.leb...@gmx.at>, "r-helpr-project.org" ><r-help@r-project.org> >Betreff: Re: [R] Breaking down a list into a table > >Hi Ferri, > It sounds like the function 'separate' from the tidyr package is what >you look for, > >HTH >Ulrik > >On Tue, 22 Nov 2016 at 14:49 Ferri Leberl ><ferri.leb...@gmx.at[mailto:ferri.leb...@gmx.at]> wrote: > >Dear All, >I asked for support to deal with a hirarchy within a character >separated list. >I solved the problem crudely but effectively by > >- Choosing for a TSV as input, where in columns that may contain >several (or as well no) items the items are separated via semicolon >- adding semicolons to the first row to grant that the first row has >the maximum number of semicolons of this column >- grasping the column(x<-myarray[,y], where y is some integer value) >and saving it as a TSV (with only one column) >- importing it again, defining it semicolumn-separated, with fill >option > >To all those who feel pain reading this: Is there a shortcut? >Thank you in advance. >Yours, Ferri > >______________________________________________ >R-help@r-project.org[mailto:R-help@r-project.org] mailing list -- To >UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see >https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help[https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help] >PLEASE do read the posting guide >http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html[http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html] >and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. > >______________________________________________ >R-help@r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see >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 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see 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.