data.table::fread doesn't like missing values in first column
data.table, r
Solution
I believe this is the same bug that I reported here.
The most recent version that I know will work with this type of input is Rev. 1180. You could checkout and build that version by adding `@1180` to the end of the `svn checkout` command.
svn checkout svn://svn.r-forge.r-project.org/svnroot/datatable/@1180
If you're not familiar with checking out and building packages, see here
But, a lot of great features, bug fixes, enhancements have been implemented since Rev. 1180. (The deveolpment version at the time of this writing is Rev. 1272). So, a better solution, is to replace the `R/fread.R` and `src/fread.c` files with the versions from Rev. 1180 or older, and then re-building the package.
You can find those files online without checking them out here (sorry, I can't figure out how to post links that include '*', so you have to copy/paste):
fread.R: `http://r-forge.r-project.org/scm/viewvc.php/*checkout*/pkg/R/fread.R?revision=988&root=datatable`
fread.c: `http://r-forge.r-project.org/scm/viewvc.php/*checkout*/pkg/src/fread.c?revision=1159&root=datatable`
Once you've rebuilt the package, you'll be able to read your tsv file.
> fread("12\t876\t19\n23\t39\t\n\t15\t20")
V1 V2 V3
1: 12 876 19
2: 23 39 NA
3: NA 15 20
The downside to doing this is that the old version of `fread()` does not pass a newer test -- you won't be able to read fields that have quotes in the middle.
> fread('A,B,C\n1.2,Foo"Bar,"a"b\"c"d"\nfo"o,bar,"b,az""\n')
Error in fread("A,B,C\n1.2,Foo\"Bar,\"a\"b\"c\"d\"\nfo\"o,bar,\"b,az\"\"\n") :
Not positioned correctly after testing format of header row. ch=','
With newer versions of `fread`, you would get this
> fread('A,B,C\n1.2,Foo"Bar,"a"b\"c"d"\nfo"o,bar,"b,az""\n')
A B C
1: 1.2 Foo"Bar a"b"c"d
2: fo"o bar b,az"
So, for now, which version "works" depends on whether you're more likely to have missing values in the first column, or quotes in fields. For me, it's the former, so I'm still using the old code.
Problem
Is this a bug in `data.table::fread` (version 1.9.2) or misplaced user expectation/error? Consider this trivial example where I have a table of values, `TAB` separated with possibly missing values. If the values are missing in the first column, `fread` gets upset, but if missing values are elsewhere I return the `data.table` I expect: ``` # Data with missing value in first column, third row and last column, second row: 12 876 19 23 39 15 20 fread("12 876 19 23 39 15 20") #Error in fread("12\t876\t19\n23\t39\t\n\t15\t20") : # Not positioned correctly after testing format of header row. ch=' ' # Data with missing values last column, rows two and three: "12 876 19 23 39 15 20 " fread( "12 876 19 23 39 15 20 " ) # V1 V2 V3 #1: 12 876 19 #2: 23 39 NA #3: 15 20 NA # Returns as expected. ``` Is this a bug or is it not possible to have missing values in the first column (or do I have malformed data somehow?).