Can you turn a string into a (working) symbol?

HI,

get("DD[2]")
#[1] 5
If you wanted to change the one without quotes:


?new1<-function(x,y) {eval.parent(substitute(x<-y))}
?new1(DD[2],7)
?DD[2]
#[1] 7
DD
#[1] 1 7 3
A.K.



----- Original Message -----
From: andrewH <ahoerner at rprogress.org>
To: r-help at r-project.org
Cc: 
Sent: Saturday, November 3, 2012 11:10 PM
Subject: Re: [R] Can you turn a string into a (working) symbol?

Yes, the assign command goes a little way toward what what I was hoping for. 
But it requires a different syntax, and it does not in general let you use
quoted expressions that you could? use with other assignment operators. For
instance,

DD <- 1:3
assign("DD[2]", 5)
DD

[1] 1 2 3

So I am still looking for a function that produces an output that is fully
equivalent to the string without quotation marks.? Or for a definite
statement that no such function can exist.

Thanks so much for your attention to this problem.
andrewH




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