[R] No "number of days" format for 'difftime'?

[Loris Bennett]

Thanks for the link, John.  However, there is a hyphen missing.  It
should be:

  http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-read-errors-and-warnings-in-r.html

Appropriately, with the correct URL we find the too often forgotten
pearl of wisdom:

 "Chances are, you just typed something wrong there."

I think I need this on my coffee cup.

Cheers,

Loris


John Kane <jrkrideau at inbox.com> writes:

> http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-read-errors and-warnings-in-r.html

> If something goes wrong with your code, R tells you. We have to admit
> it: These error messages can range from mildly confusing to completely
> incomprehensible if you’re not used to them.
>
>
> fortune(350) regarding the on-line help is also inspiring
>
> You need to get the hang of reading the online help. The information
> required is actually therein ?dotchart --- it's just tersely and
> obscurely expressed. A certain degree of optimism is required. You
> need to ***believe*** that the information is there; then ask yourself
> "What could they possibly mean by what they have written that would
> tell me what I need to know?".
>    -- Rolf Turner (on reading the help pages)
>       R-help (June 2013)
>
>
> John Kane
> Kingston ON Canada
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: loris.bennett at fu-berlin.de
>> Sent: Mon, 8 Aug 2016 12:07:43 +0200
>> To: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
>> Subject: Re: [R] No "number of days" format for 'difftime'?
>> 
>> Hi,
>> 
>> I was probably misled by the, to my mind, esoteric error message into
>> thinking the error was more subtle.  Something like "unmatched quotes"
>> might have helped me recognise that I was just being dopey.
>> 
>> Thanks to John and Rui.
>> 
>> Loris
>> 
>> <ruipbarradas at sapo.pt> writes:
>> 
>>> Hello,
>>> 
>>> You're missing a double quotes. Right after format=
>>> 
>>> Hope this helps,
>>> 
>>> Rui Barradas
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Citando Loris Bennett <loris.bennett at fu-berlin.de>:
>>> 
>>>> Hi,
>>>> 
>>>> When I try
>>>> 
>>>> d <- as.difftime("6-08:18:33",format=%d-%H:%M:%S")
>>>> 
>>>> I get:
>>>> 
>>>> Error: unexpected SPECIAL in "as.difftime("6-08:18:33",format=%d-%"
>>>> 
>>>> Am I correct in thinking that it is not possible to do something like
>>>> this, because there is no character string for the format which
>>>> corresponds to "number of days"?
>>>> 
>>>> I could misuse "%j" for "day of the year as a decimal number", but
>>>> ultimately the "difftime" object is still a data, rather than a length
>>>> of time and I should be looking at a package like 'lubridate' instead.
>>>> Is that the case?
>>>> 
>>>> Cheers,
>>>> 
>>>> Loris
>>>> 
>>>> --
>>>> Dr. Loris Bennett (Mr.)
>>>> ZEDAT, Freie Universität Berlin         Email
>>>> loris.bennett at fu-berlin.de
>>>> 
>>>> ______________________________________________
>>>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
>>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>>>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
>>>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.htmland provide commented,
>>>> minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>>> 
>>> ______________________________________________
>>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
>>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>> 
>> --
>> Dr. Loris Bennett (Mr.)
>> ZEDAT, Freie Universität Berlin         Email loris.bennett at fu-berlin.de
>> 
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>
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> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.

-- 
Dr. Loris Bennett (Mr.)
ZEDAT, Freie Universität Berlin         Email loris.bennett at fu-berlin.de