[R] gsub for numeric characters in string

[Peter Langfelder]

On Fri, Aug 19, 2011 at 11:11 AM, Rebecca Gray <atlasrrg at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> I have what is a bit of a confusing question, so I hope that I can explain
> clearly. Thank you for your help in advance.
>
> I would like to do a replacement procedure on several strings, but the way
> that I am currently going about it is not working.
>
> I have defined "len", which is a series comprising the lengths of different
> items, all preceded by a colon.
>
>> len
> [1] ":328" ":154"  ":135"
> [4] ":147" ":30"  ":50"
> [7] ":252" ":45"  ";"
>
> 'lenplustate" is a series that is comprised of an attribute of each item
> preceding the colon, followed by the length (as defined in len).
>
>> lenplusstate
> [1] "1:328"  "1:154"   "4:135"
> [4] "NA:147" "3:30"   "2:50"
> [7] "NA:252" "NA:45"  "NA;"
>
> "tree" is a string that gives the specific relationship (via parenthetical
> notation) among the different items. Note that the lengths are included in
> this tree (following the colon), and the name of each item (1-5) precedes a
> colon. However, not every colon is preceded with a name (because there are
> internal nodes in the tree structure).
>
>> tree
> [1] "(*1*:328,((*5*:154,*2*:135):147,(*3*:30,*4*:50):252):45);"
>
> I would like to replace the length with the lengthplusstate in the tree,
> while removing the names, so that it looks like this:
>
>> theoreticalnewtree
> [1] "(*1*:328,((*1*:154,*4*:135)NA:147,(*3*:30,*2*:50)NA:252)NA:45);"
>

I can help you, but what is the "name" of each item? I thought it was
the index of the item in the len and lenplusstate variables, but that
apparently is not the case. You have to specify the names as well.

Peter