How to read data when some numbers contain commas as thousand separator?

Question

I have a csv file where some of the numerical values are expressed as strings with commas as thousand separator, e.g. `"1,513"` instead of `1513`. What is the simplest way to read the data into R?I can use `read.csv(..., colClasses="character")`, but then I have to strip out the commas from the relevant elements before converting those columns to numeric, and I can't find a neat way to do that.

Answer 1

Hello, the simplest way will be to open the .csv file in Excel and hit the command + f keystroke combination. Search for ",". Then select Replace All. Do not write anything in the "Replace With" input box. By replacing all the ","s with nothing you are effectively deleting all the commas in your file. Then you should be able to proceed with your data as you normally would in R. Best of luck, hope this helps you out!