Hello,
The 179th and 180th elements of my list of lists look like this: [[179]] [[179]]$desc [1] ">ipi|IPI00646510|IPI00646510.2 ISOFORM P60-HCK OF TYROSINE-PROTEIN KINASE HCK." [[179]]$seq [1] "MGGRSSCEDPGCPRDEERAPRMGCMKSKFLQVGGNTFSKTETSASPHCPVYVPDPTSTIKPGPNSHNSNTP GIREAGSEDIIVVALYDYEAIHHEDLSFQKGDQMVVLEESGEWWKARSLATRKEGYIPSNYVARVDSLETEE WFFKGISRKDAERQLLAPGNMLGSFMIRDSETTKGSYSLSVRDYDPRQGDTVKHYKIRTLDNGGFYISPRST FSTLQELVDHYKKGNDGLCQKLSVPCMSSKPQKPWEKDAWEIPRESLKLEKKLGAGQFGEVWMATYNKHTKV AVKTMKPGSMSVEAFLAEANVMKTLQHDKLVKLHAVVTKEPIYIITEFMAKGSLLDFLKSDEGSKQPLPKLI DFSAQIAEGMAFIEQRNYIHRDLRAANILVSASLVCKIADFGLARVIEDNEYTAREGAKFPIKWTAPEAINF GSFTIKSDVWSFGILLMEIVTYGRIPYPGMSNPEVIRALERGYRMPRPENCPEELYNIMMRCWKNRPEERPT FEYIQSVLDDFYTATESQYQQQP" [[179]][[3]] [1] 26 [[180]] [[180]]$desc [1] ">ipi|IPI00651745|IPI00651745.5 ISOFORM 2 OF TOM1-LIKE PROTEIN 2." [[180]]$seq [1] "MEFLLGNPFSTPVGQCLEKATDGSLQSEDWTLNMEICDIINETEEGPKDAIRALKKRLNGNRNYREVMLAL TAWADAFRSSPDLTGVVHIYEELKRKGVEFPMADLDALSPIHTPQRSVPEVDPAATMPRSQSQQRTSAGSYS SPPPAPYSAPQAPALSVTGPITANSEQIARLRSELDVVRGNTKVMSEMLTEMVPGQEDSSDLELLQELNRTC RAMQQRIVELISRVSNEEVTEELLHVNDDLNNVFLRYERFERYRSGRSVQNASNGVLNEVTEDNLIDLGPGS PAVVSPMVGNTAPPSSLSSQLAGLDLGTESVSGTLSSLQQCNPRDGFDMFAQTRGNSLAEQRKTVTYEDPQA VGGLASALDNRKQSSEGIPVAQPSVMDDIEVWLRTDLKGDDLEEGVTSEEFDKFLEERAKAAEMVPDLPSPP MEAPAPASNPSGRKKPERSEDALFAL" [[180]][[3]] [1] 16 I would like to be able to access all the first sub-elements ($desc) of my list in order to be able to test for the presence of some elements using their desc (description). Something like lapply(mylist, fun='$desc') doesn't work. For loops could do but are they the best thing I can do ? Thanks a lot for your help ! Amelie -- The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is operated by Genome Research Limited, a charity registered in England with number 1021457 and a compa ny registered in England with number 2742969, whose registered office is 2 15 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BE. [[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.