Re: [R] Character coerced to factor and I cannot get it back Try this: DF <- data.frame(let = letters[1:3], num = 1:3, stringsAsFactors = FALSE) str(DF) On 4/19/07, John Kane  wrote: > > --- Tyler Smith  wrote: > > > I really need to sit down with the manual and sort > > factors and classes > > properly. In your case, I think the problem has > > something to do with > > the way a list behaves?  I'm not sure, but if you > > convert your list to > > a dataframe it seems to work ok: > > > > > dd3 <- as.data.frame(dd1) > > > typeof(dd3$st) > > [1] "integer" > > > class(dd3$st) > > [1] "factor" > > > dd3$st <- as.character(dd3$st) > > > typeof(dd3$st) > > [1] "character" > > > class(dd3$st) > > [1] "character" > > > > HTH, > > > > Tyler > > Seems to work nicely. I had forgotten about > 'as.data.frame. > > I originally thought that it might be a list problem > too but I don't think so. I set up the example as a > list since that is the way my real data is being > imported from csv. However after my original posting I > went back and tried it with just a dataframe and I'm > getting the same results. See below. > > I even shut down R , reloaded it and detached the two > extra packages I usually load. Everything is working > fine but I am doing some things with factors that I > have never done before and this just makes me a bit > paranoid. > > Thanks very much for the help. > > > EXAMPLE > dd  <- data.frame(aa <- 1:4, bb <-  letters[1:4], >         cc <- c(12345, 123456, 45678, 456789)) > > id  <-  as.character(dd[,3]) ; id > > st  <- substring(id, 1,nchar(id)-4 ) ; st > typeof (st)  ; class(st) > > dd1  <-  cbind(dd, st) >    names(dd1)  <- c("aa","bb","cc","st") >    dd1 >    typeof(dd1$st); class(dd1$st) > > dd2  <-  cbind(dd, as.character(st)) >    names(dd2)  <- c("aa","bb","cc","st") >    dd2 >    typeof(dd2$st) ;   class(dd2$st) > > ______________________________________________ > R-help@stat.math.ethz.ch 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. > ______________________________________________ R-help@stat.math.ethz.ch 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.