[R] RODBC sqlSave problem with bigint numbers

[Jason Becker]

In fact, I always use a string for ID variables because you can get
some funky matching errors due to mismatches in precision.

Bill Gould at Stata Corp said this well in a recent blog post
"1. Use theory to check IDs if they are numeric

One way the id variable can become corrupted is if it is not stored
properly or if it is read improperly. This can happen to both string
and numeric variables, but right now, we are going to emphasize the
numeric case.

Say the identification variable is Social Security number, an example
of which is 888-88-8888. Social Security numbers are invariably stored
in computers as 888888888, which is to say that they are run together
and look a lot like the number 888,888,888. Sometimes they are even
stored numerically. Say you have a raw data file containing perfectly
valid Social Security numbers recorded in just this manner. Say you
read the number as a float. Then 888888888 becomes 888888896, and so
does every Social Security number between 888888865 and 888888927,
some 63 in total. If Bob has Social Security number 888888869 and Mary
has 888888921, and Bob appears in dataset one and Mary in dataset two,
then Bob and Mary will be combined because they share the same rounded
Social Security number.

Always be suspicious of numeric ID variables stored numerically, not
just those stored as floats."

Source: http://blog.stata.com/2011/04/18/merging-data-part-1-merges-gone-bad/


On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 8:31 AM, Renaud Lancelot
<renaud.lancelot at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Why don't you read/write this field as a character string? Pretty common for
> codes.
>
> 2011/7/27 PtitBleu <ptit_bleu at yahoo.fr>
>
> > I've just tested with 12 figures instead of 13. And it works ...
> > But I'm not able to modify these numbers as they are codes given by other
> > guys (and women as well) to distinguish equipments.
> >
> > And I thought the limit with R was 15 digits and not 13.
> >
> > Is it a (bad for me) special feature of the sqlSave command?
> > Thanks in advance for any suggestion,
> > Ptit Bleu.
> >
> >
> > --
> > View this message in context:
> > http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/RODBC-sqlSave-problem-with-bigint-numbers-tp3697738p3697907.html
> > Sent from the R help mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
> >
> > ______________________________________________
> > R-help at 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.
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Renaud Lancelot
> EDENext Project, coordinator: http://www.edenext.eu/
>
> CIRAD, UMR15, Campus International de Baillarguet TA A-DIR / B
> F34398 Montpellier
>
> Tel.  +33 4 67 59 37 17  -  Fax  +33 4 67 59 37 95
> Secr. +33 4 67 59 37 37  - Cell. +33 6 77 52 08 69
>
>        [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at 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.



--
______________________
Jason P. Becker