[R] problems with read.table

[Martin Maechler]

>>>>> "Peter" == Peter Holzer <holzer at stat.math.ethz.ch> writes:

    Peter> Dear R users, I have the following problem: I have a table in
    Peter> ASCII-format, separated with commas. I can read it as long as no
    Peter> field contains a comma itself. If one does, read.table doesn't
    Peter> function even though that field is double-quoted.

    Peter> Ex.:

    Peter> File "test.csv":

    Peter> Name,Strasse,PLZ
    Peter> Jsaac,Gossauerstrassee 29,9100
    Peter> Roth-Bernasconi,"20, ch. des Fauvettes",1212

One possibility:
Change the last line to

	   Roth-Bernasconi,20\, ch. des Fauvettes,1212
			     ^^
i.e., espape the "," (and don't use the " double quotes).

However, this is not always a feasible solution.

    Peter>   adressen <- read.table("test.csv", header=T, sep=",")

    Peter> results in an error as the comma in "20, ch. des Fauvettes" is
    Peter> interpreted as a field delimiter. Playing around with read.table
    Peter> and also with scan I found out that double-quotes are always
    Peter> interpreted as characters of their own.

    Peter> What can I do? Thanks for any help.
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