Read Data from a File Containing Multiple Datasets

Sometimes, a single file might have multiple datasets, each separated with a "header" of some sort. This function attempts to read the most basic of those types of files.

read.mtable(inFile, chunkId, ...)

Arguments

inFile	The path to the input file
chunkId	A pattern in the text that identifies the "header" that indicates the start of a new dataset
...	Other arguments to be passed to read.table

Value

A list of data.frames

Note

names are added to the resulting list, but these are not likely to be syntactically valid R names.

References

http://stackoverflow.com/a/11530036/1270695, http://stackoverflow.com/a/11555316/1270695

Author

Ananda Mahto

Examples

x <- tempfile()
cat("'Experiment Name: Here Be',,", "1,2,3", "4,5,6", "7,8,9",
    "'Experiment Name: The Dragons',,", "10,11,12", "13,14,15",
    "16,17,18", file = x, sep = "\n")

read.mtable(x, "Experi", sep = ",")
#> $`'Experiment Name: Here Be',,`
#>   V1 V2 V3
#> 1  1  2  3
#> 2  4  5  6
#> 3  7  8  9
#> 
#> $`'Experiment Name: The Dragons',,`
#>   V1 V2 V3
#> 1 10 11 12
#> 2 13 14 15
#> 3 16 17 18
#> 

cat("Header: Boston city data",
    "Month    Data1    Data2    Data3",
    "1        1.5      9.1342   8.1231",
    "2        12.3     12.31    1.129",
    "", "", "Header: Chicago city data",
    "Month    Data1    Data2    Data3",
    "1        1.5      9.1342   8.1231",
    "2        12.3     12.31    1.129",
    file = x, sep = "\n")

read.mtable(x, "Header", header = TRUE)
#> $`Header: Boston city data`
#>   Month Data1   Data2  Data3
#> 1     1   1.5  9.1342 8.1231
#> 2     2  12.3 12.3100 1.1290
#> 
#> $`Header: Chicago city data`
#>   Month Data1   Data2  Data3
#> 1     1   1.5  9.1342 8.1231
#> 2     2  12.3 12.3100 1.1290
#>