On Sun, 13 Jul 2008, Juliet Hannah wrote:

I was not able to follow the solution posted. Could you demonstrate
this technique on an example
data set. Thanks!

dat <- data.frame(a = letters[1:3], b = LETTERS[1:3], c = 1:3, d = 3:1)

Using your example:

dat <- data.frame(a = letters[1:3], b = LETTERS[1:3], c = 1:3, d = 3:1)
write.csv(dat,file="yourFrame.csv")
col.pos <- match(c("b","d"), 
scan("yourFrame.csv",sep=',',what=character(0),nlines=1))
Read 5 items
con <- pipe( paste( "cut -d, -f",paste(col.pos,collapse=','), " 
yourFrame.csv",sep=''))
cols.b.d <- read.csv( con )
cols.b.d
  b d
1 A 3
2 B 2
3 C 1


HTH,

Chuck



On Wed, Jul 2, 2008 at 1:13 PM, Charles C. Berry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On Wed, 2 Jul 2008, Ben Tupper wrote:


On Jul 2, 2008, at 6:53 AM, Philip James Smith wrote:

Hi R people:

I have huge files with as many as 5000 columns. I'd really like to read
only certain columns of those files. I know column names I want to read.

I looked at the documentation of read.csv . Although there is a col.names
option, it allows users to specify the names of the columns, rather than to
pick the columns of interest.

Any suggestions on how to pick the columns I want to read only, rather
than the entire file, would be greatly appreciated.


There is a unix utility called 'cut' that enables stuff like

  columns.1.3.5.to.7 <- read.csv( pipe( "cut -d, -f1,3,5-7 your.file" ) )

and using

       col.pos <- match(names.of.variables.you.want,
                        scan("your.file", what=character(0), nlines=1 )

will enable you to set up the call to pipe.

HTH,

Chuck



Hello,

I think you want explicitly set the colClasses argument such that the
columns you *don't* want are set to NULL and all others are set to
appropriate classes.

Cheers,
Ben






Phil Smith
Duluth, GA

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Charles C. Berry                            (858) 534-2098
                                           Dept of Family/Preventive
Medicine
E mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]               UC San Diego
http://famprevmed.ucsd.edu/faculty/cberry/  La Jolla, San Diego 92093-0901

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PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
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Charles C. Berry                            (858) 534-2098
                                            Dept of Family/Preventive Medicine
E mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]                  UC San Diego
http://famprevmed.ucsd.edu/faculty/cberry/  La Jolla, San Diego 92093-0901

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