R - 将带有“\t”和“\n”的字符串变量转换为数据帧

Question

I have a varible containing string:

"A\tB\n\C\tD"

How can I convert it into a data frame like this?

---------
| A | B |
---------
| C | D |
---------

I have used this workaround: first write it as.txt file and then read as.tsv file.

writeLines("A\tB\n\C\tD", "A.txt")
B <- read.table("A.txt", header = FALSE, sep = "\t")

I am pretty sure that there is a more effective way to convert one to another without creating a new file, but I cannot find it.

Answer 1

You're right about using read.table() .

• Use read.table(text=your_string, sep="\t") , emphasis on the text parameter.
• The text parameter allows you to input a string instead of a filename.

Also, in your variable string, you have "A\tB\n\C\tD" where there is a \ before the C , I don't know if that's an error or not but if you take that \ out, the input should be fine (like "A\tB\nC\tD" )

Answer 2

Use the text= argument:

s <- "A\tB\nC\tD"
read.table(text = s, as.is = TRUE)
##   V1 V2
## 1  A  B
## 2  C  D