Hi Jesse, Here is another option by using a function, which argument is the file's name:
# A function rmf<-function(filename){ x<-readLines(filename,warn=FALSE) res<-which(x=='data table' | x=='end table') x<-x[seq(res[1]+1,res[2]-1)] mydata<-read.table(textConnection(x)) closeAllConnections() mydata } As you see, I used some ideas from Jim Holtman's post (I hope you don't mind Jim). Here is how 'rmf' works: > rmf('ex.txt') # I saved the data you sent as 'ex.txt' keeping the same structure V1 1 1000 2 10110 3 11 Now, if you have a lot of files with the same structure and you want to extract the same information, then using *apply you will be able to do the job. All you need is the name of them. HTH, Jorge On Sat, Jan 24, 2009 at 5:48 PM, jesse daniel <jdl...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Hello - > > I need to read in some tables that are embedded within data files like > this: > > line 1 > line 2 > data table > 01000 > 10110 > 00011 > end table > line 3 > line 4 > > Is there any way to read just the data by telling an input device to start > reading when it encounters the keyword "data table" and stop reading at > "end > table"? > > Thanks in advance, > Jesse > -- > View this message in context: > http://www.nabble.com/IO%3A-streaming-input-data-tp21646179p21646179.html > Sent from the R help mailing list archive at Nabble.com. > > ______________________________________________ > 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. > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] ______________________________________________ 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.