[R] ifelse help

[Jeff]

I'm sure this is easy, but I'm new to R and can't find any example of 
the following.

Here's what I'm trying to do in pseudo-code.

data$newvar <- ifelse(data$oldvar1 == 8, 1,data$oldvar2)

In other words, if the existing variable equals 8, then the new 
variable should equal 1, otherwise the new variable should equal the 
value of another existing variable.

I've tried to follow the examples given on the web and in the R 
manuals, and each time I get errors or unexpected values.

Thanks

Jeff