

   ddaattaa iinnppuutt

        read.table(file, header = FALSE, sep = "", row.names,
                col.names, as.is = FALSE, na.strings = "NA", skip = 0)

   AArrgguummeennttss::

       file: the name of the file which the data are to be read
             from.  Each row of the table appears as one line
             of the file.

     header: a logical value indicating whether the file con-
             tains the names of the variables as its first
             line.

        sep: the field separator character.  Values on each
             line of the file are separated by this character.

   row.names: a vector of row names. This can be a vector giv-
             ing the actual row names, or a single number giv-
             ing the column of the table which contains the row
             names, or character string giving the name of the
             table column containing the row names.

   col.names: a vector of optional names for the variables.
             The default is to use `"V"' followed by the column
             number

      as.is: the default behavior of `read.table' is to convert
             non-numeric variables to factors.  The variable
             `as.is' controls this conversion.  Its value is
             either a vector of logicals (values are recycled
             if necessary), or a vector of numeric indices
             which specify which columns should be left as
             character strings.

   na.strings: a vector strings which are to be interpreted as
             `NA' values.

       skip: the number of lines of the data file to skip
             before beginning to read data.

   VVaalluuee::

        A data frame containing a representation of the data in
        the file.  This function is the principal means of
        reading tabular data into R.

   SSeeee AAllssoo::

        `scan', `read.fwf' for fixed width formatted input;
        `data.frame'.

