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substr() needs argument fixed=TRUE or else it uses regex expression
for string matching and replacements.<br>
I'd suggest you look into stringr::str_pad(x, 6) or formatC(x, width
= 6, format = "d", flag = "0") for faster ways to achieve this.<br>
--Mel.<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><br>
On 1/5/2015 11:44 PM, Santosh Srinivas wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CALtLFXTtJfbDXXwwNn5xSQX+A9UjofwremAVdYVe1jyf=fSRWg@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">Hello All,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I am trying to create a character variable in my data table
so that it is *atleast* 6 characters long.</div>
<div>The last line seems to be going wrong.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Please advise. Reproducible code below</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div>require("data.table")</div>
<div>value <- sample(seq(60:1000),100) #Random data</div>
<div>dt <- as.data.table(value)</div>
<div>dt[,value:=as.character(value)] #Cast as character</div>
<div>dt[, value_MISSINGDIGITS:=6-nchar(value)] #Check for # of
characters missing</div>
<div>dt[,
value_MISSINGDIGITS:=value_MISSINGDIGITS*(value_MISSINGDIGITS>0)]
#Handle negative values</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div># This works till here!</div>
<div># The missing character count works correctly above</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div># The below fails. I am trying to generate dummy 0s to
fill the missing characters. The values do not get generated
accurately</div>
<div>dt[,value_MISSINGPART:=substr("000000",0,value_MISSINGDIGITS)]</div>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div>> sessionInfo()</div>
<div>R version 3.1.2 (2014-10-31)</div>
<div>Platform: x86_64-apple-darwin13.4.0 (64-bit)</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>locale:</div>
<div>[1] C</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>attached base packages:</div>
<div>[1] stats graphics grDevices utils datasets
methods base </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>other attached packages:</div>
<div> [1] fractalrock_1.1.0 quantmod_0.4-0 TTR_0.22-0
xts_0.9-7 zoo_1.7-11
Defaults_1.1-1 </div>
<div> [7] futile.logger_1.3.7 futile.any_1.3.0
lambda.r_1.1.6 timeDate_3011.99 lubridate_1.3.3
data.table_1.9.4 </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>loaded via a namespace (and not attached):</div>
<div> [1] Rcpp_0.11.3 chron_2.3-45
digest_0.6.4 futile.options_1.0.0 grid_3.1.2
</div>
<div> [6] lattice_0.20-29 memoise_0.2.1 plyr_1.8.1
reshape2_1.4 stringr_0.6.2 </div>
<div>[11] tools_3.1.2 </div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
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<br>
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</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Melanie BACOU
International Food Policy Research Institute
Snr. Program Manager, HarvestChoice
Work +1(202)862-5699
E-mail <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:m.bacou@cgiar.org">m.bacou@cgiar.org</a>
Visit <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.harvestchoice.org">www.harvestchoice.org</a> </pre>
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