.BG
.VE $Header: /usr3/s/current/s/.help/RCS/coerce,v 1.2 83/12/30 19:25:35 rab Exp $
.FN coerce
.FN %m
.TL
coerce %m: Change Mode
.CS
coerce(x, mode)
x %m mode                 #special operator
.PP
.AG x
vector structure.  Missing values (NAs) are allowed.
.AG mode
desired mode for data: LGL, INT, REAL or CHAR.
.RT
vector structure whose data elements have the new mode.
.SH SEE ALSO
`encode' converts to CHAR in a more flexible way.
.EX
print( matrix(1:20,5,4), rowlab=(1:5)%m CHAR)

mydata <- matrix( read("myfile",mode=CHAR),ncol=5 )
ident <- mydata[,1]    # character identifier in first column
data <- coerce( mydata[,-1], REAL )    # other columns numeric
.KW basic*
.KW manip
.WR
