Wow. Thanks to everyone (Jim, Ng Bo Lin, Bert, David, and Ulrik) for all the quick and helpful responses. They have given me a better understanding of regular expressions, and certainly answered my question.
Joe On Wed, Mar 22, 2017 at 12:22 AM, Ulrik Stervbo <ulrik.ster...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Joe, > > you could also rethink your pattern: > > grep("x1 \\+ x2", test, value = TRUE) > > grep("x1 \\+ x", test, value = TRUE) > > grep("x1 \\+ x[0-9]", test, value = TRUE) > > HTH > Ulrik > > On Wed, 22 Mar 2017 at 02:10 Jim Lemon <drjimle...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> Hi Joe, >> This may help you: >> >> test <- c("x1", "x2", "x3", "x1 + x2 + x3") >> multigrep<-function(x1,x2) { >> xbits<-unlist(strsplit(x1," ")) >> nbits<-length(xbits) >> xans<-rep(FALSE,nbits) >> for(i in 1:nbits) if(length(grep(xbits[i],x2))) xans[i]<-TRUE >> return(all(xans)) >> } >> multigrep("x1 + x3","x1 + x2 + x3") >> [1] TRUE >> multigrep("x1 + x4","x1 + x2 + x3") >> [1] FALSE >> >> Jim >> >> On Wed, Mar 22, 2017 at 10:50 AM, Joe Ceradini <joecerad...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> > Hi Folks, >> > >> > Is there a way to find "x1 + x2 + x3" given "x1 + x3" as the pattern? >> > Or is that a ridiculous question, since I'm trying to find something >> > based on a pattern that doesn't exist? >> > >> > test <- c("x1", "x2", "x3", "x1 + x2 + x3") >> > test >> > [1] "x1" "x2" "x3" "x1 + x2 + x3" >> > >> > grep("x1 + x2", test, fixed=TRUE, value = TRUE) >> > [1] "x1 + x2 + x3" >> > >> > >> > But what if only have "x1 + x3" as the pattern and still want to >> > return "x1 + x2 + x3"? >> > >> > grep("x1 + x3", test, fixed=TRUE, value = TRUE) >> > character(0) >> > >> > I'm sure this looks like an odd question. I'm trying to build a >> > function and stuck on this. Rather than dropping the whole function on >> > the list, I thought I'd try one piece I needed help with...although I >> > suspect that this question itself probably does bode well for my >> > function :) >> > >> > Thanks! >> > Joe >> > >> > ______________________________________________ >> > 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. -- Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Zoology and Physiology Dept. University of Wyoming joecerad...@gmail.com / 914.707.8506 wyocoopunit.org ______________________________________________ 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.