toSymbols: Atomic Symbols Converter

Description

Converts character strings or atomic numbers into atomic symbols.

Usage

toSymbols(x, ...)
# S3 method for integer
toSymbols(x, ...)
# S3 method for numeric
toSymbols(x, ...)
# S3 method for character
toSymbols(x, nletters = 3, ...)

Value

a character vector containing atomic symbols

Arguments

x: a vector to be converted into atomic symbols.
...: further arguments passed to or from other methods.
nletters: an integer used to truncate the character strings before convertion.

Details

Each elements of x are converted into atomic symbols.
When x is an integer (or numeric) vector, atomic number are search into the elements data set to find associated atomic symbols.
When x is a character vector, toSymbols first removes all leading and trailing white spaces and numbers. Then translates the first character of the character strings to uppercase and all the others to lowercase. Finally, the character strings are tested for matching with element symbols provided by the elements data set. NA are produced for no matching.

Examples

Run this code

x <- c(1:10)
toSymbols(x)

x <- c("C  "," o","h1","1h","UU","SI0","cR")
toSymbols(x)

# 'nletters' can be used to truncate the character strings before
# conversion, if needed:
toSymbols("SIL", nletters=3) # return NA
toSymbols("SIL", nletters=2) # return "Si"
toSymbols("SIL", nletters=1) # return "S"