Probelm with read.table

You need to change the comment character from #. This works for me: $
mydf <- read.table(file="mytextfile.txt", header = T,
sep="\t",na.strings="#N/A", comment.char = "V") $ mydf
   X738307 X527178 X714456 X557955
1       NA   17.42    6.22    4.73
2       NA   17.30    6.23    4.75
3       NA   17.29    6.17    4.70
4       NA   17.07    6.12    4.60
5       NA   17.27    6.19    4.70
6       NA   17.72    6.40    4.78
7       NA   17.12    6.19    4.75
8       NA   17.07    6.15    4.65
9       NA   17.03    6.07    4.64
10      NA   17.38    6.13    4.70
11      NA   17.38    6.13    4.70
12      NA   17.38    6.13    4.70
13      NA   17.38    6.13    4.70
14      NA   17.34    6.28    4.70
15      10   17.57    6.33    4.75
16      11   17.57    6.33    4.75
17      12   17.57    6.33    4.75
18      13   17.39    6.25    4.87
19      14   17.15    6.33    5.06
20      15   17.05    6.21    5.00
21      16   16.87    6.14    5.15
22      17   16.72    6.27    5.23

HTH, Andy

-----Original Message-----
From: r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch
[mailto:r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of
Arnaud_Amsellem at ssga.com
Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2003 3:31 AM
To: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
Subject: [R] Probelm with read.table


Hi All,

I have the following text file (mytextfile.txt)

738307      527178      714456      557955
#N/A  17.42 6.22  4.73
#N/A  17.3  6.23  4.75
#N/A  17.29 6.17  4.7
#N/A  17.07 6.12  4.6
#N/A  17.27 6.19  4.7
#N/A  17.72 6.4   4.78
#N/A  17.12 6.19  4.75
#N/A  17.07 6.15  4.65
#N/A  17.03 6.07  4.64
#N/A  17.38 6.13  4.7
#N/A  17.38 6.13  4.7
#N/A  17.38 6.13  4.7
#N/A  17.38 6.13  4.7
#N/A  17.34 6.28  4.7
10    17.57 6.33  4.75
11    17.57 6.33  4.75
12    17.57 6.33  4.75
13    17.39 6.25  4.87
14    17.15 6.33  5.06
15    17.05 6.21  5
16    16.87 6.14  5.15
17    16.72 6.27  5.23

I use the following command:
mydf <- read.table(file="mytextfile.txt", header = T,
sep="\t",na.strings="
#NA")

When the above command is applied I have only 8 lines in mydf. I tried
many options but nothing seems to get me the entire file. If the #NA
are not in the first column it seems to work fine i.e I get  22 lines
in mydf. Anyone would know a way of getting the entire file even if
#NA are in the first column?

I use R 1.8.0 on Windows 2000

Any help appreciated

Arno