how to use right/left to split a variable in sqldf, as in left(x,n)

Question

Is there a different function in R to use to get the same result as in SQL for left or right function?

For instance, the following query in SQL would give the first 6 characters of a column:

select left(x, 6)
from table

However, when I try this in sqldf like this:

sqldf("select left(x,6) from table")

I get the following error:

Error in sqliteSendQuery(con, statement, bind.data) :

error in statement: near "(": syntax error

It gives me the x variable but not left(x,6). To clarify, the length of x is more than 6.

I suspect that this means that the `left` function is not implemented in `sqldf` — Michal, Aug 05 '15 at 21:58

score 8 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 18 '16 at 08:46

8

In sqldf, the function is named leftstr, not left. (answer by G.Grothendieck in the comment)

edited Jan 18 '16 at 08:46

scoa

answered Oct 23 '15 at 16:23

asiehh

Note that you can find `leftstr` and the other additional SQLite functions that are available here: `library(RSQLite); help("initExtension")` . – G. Grothendieck Jul 20 '16 at 10:56

1 Answers1