Undesired quotes around values in table (pgfplot)

Question

I am saving tables using write.table in R using the following code:

x <- rnorm(100)
y <- rnorm(100)
z <- rnorm(100)
model <- z ~ x + y
results <- glm(model)
pe <- results$coefficients
vc <- vcov(results)
se <- sqrt(diag(vc))
results.table <- cbind(pe, se)
rownames(results.table) <- c("Intercept", "X-Estimate", "Y-Estimate")
write.table(results.table,file="test.csv",row.names=T,col.names=NA,sep=",")

When I then try to read in the table using pgfplot, there are quotes around all non-numeric values:

% Set up
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgfplotstable,filecontents,booktabs}
\pgfplotstableread[col sep=comma]{test.csv}\tablea

%Start the document
\begin{document}
% Table a

\pgfplotstabletypeset[
string type,
columns/pe/.style={column name=PE, column type = {r}},
columns/se/.style={column name=SE, column type = {r}},
every head row/.style={column type={|l}, before row={\toprule},after row=\midrule},
every last row/.style={after row={\toprule}},
]\tablea

\end{document}

I (obviously) don't want double quotes around all of my string (column and row titles). I also am unable to adjust the styles of the columns using the above code, perhaps because of the absent first column title (which I want to leave blank). Help on either of these issues would be appreciated, this is a full working example. Thanks,

Answer 1

As SlowLearner suggested, you can get rid of the quotation marks in the data table by setting quote=F in your R script. However, this leaves the column name for the first column empty, which PGFPlotstable can't handle.

I've modified the PGFPlotstable function that assigns the column names to check whether the column name would be empty, and replaces empty column names with the string empty, so you can work with it like with a "normal" column (for example, setting /columns/empty/.style={column name={}} to prevent \pgfplotstabletypeset from printing the empty string).

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgfplotstable,filecontents,booktabs}

%% Redefine an internal PGFPlotstable macro to check for empty column names
\makeatletter
\long\def\pgfplotstableread@impl@collectcolnames@NEXT#1{%
%\pgfplots@message{Got column name no \thepgfplotstableread@curcol\ as '#1'}%
    \pgfutil@ifundefined{pgfplotstableread@impl@COLNAME@#1}{%
        \if\relax\detokenize{#1}\relax
            \def\pgfplotstable@loc@TMPa{empty}%
        \else
            \def\pgfplotstable@loc@TMPa{#1}%
        \fi
    }{% generate unique column names warning:
        \if\relax\detokenize{#1}\relax
            \def\pgfplotstable@loc@TMPa{empty}%
        \else
            \def\pgfplotstable@loc@TMPa{#1}%
        \fi
        \pgfplots@warning{Table '\pgfplotstableread@filename' has non-unique column name '\pgfplotstable@loc@TMPa'. Only the first occurence can be accessed via column names.}%
        \edef\pgfplotstable@loc@TMPa{\pgfplotstable@loc@TMPa--index\thepgfplotstableread@curcol}%
    }%
    \expandafter\def\csname pgfplotstableread@impl@COLNAME@#1\endcsname{foo}% remember this name.
    \expandafter\pgfplotslistpushbackglobal\expandafter{\pgfplotstable@loc@TMPa}\to\pgfplotstable@colnames@glob
    \ifpgfplots@tableread@to@listener
        % create an associative container colindex -> colname
        % for use in a listener.
        \expandafter\edef\csname pgfplotstblread@colindex@for@name#1\endcsname{\thepgfplotstableread@curcol}%
    \fi
    \pgfplotstableread@countadvance\pgfplotstableread@curcol
}
\makeatother

\pgfplotstableread[col sep=comma]{test.csv}\tablea

%Start the document
\begin{document}
% Table a

\pgfplotstabletypeset[
    columns/empty/.style={column name={}, string type},
    columns/pe/.style={column name=PE, fixed, fixed zerofill, precision=3,  dec sep align},
    columns/se/.style={column name=SE, fixed, fixed zerofill, precision=3,dec sep align},
    every head row/.style={before row={\toprule},after row=\midrule},
    every last row/.style={after row={\toprule}},
]\tablea

\end{document}

Answer 2

Use the quote argument like this:

write.table(results.table,file="c:/test.csv",row.names=T,col.names=NA,sep=",", quote = FALSE)

That should get rid of the quotes. Incidentally, for future R-specific questions (which this is) you will likely get a far better response on StackOverflow rather than in this part of StackExchange.

UPDATE - I misunderstood the question. The original poster wants to keep the "" that write.table inserts into the column names but he doesn't want the quotes. If he omits the quotes, that "" doesn't get written. So writing the header and the matrix separately should work as per screenshot below:

x <- rnorm(100)
y <- rnorm(100)
z <- rnorm(100)
model <- z ~ x + y
results <- glm(model)
pe <- results$coefficients
vc <- vcov(results)
se <- sqrt(diag(vc))
results.table <- cbind(pe, se)
rownames(results.table) <- c("Intercept", "X-Estimate", "Y-Estimate")
## Doing it this way leads to unwanted quotes
write.table(results.table,file="c:/original.csv",row.names=T,col.names=NA,sep=",")

## Better way - first open file for reading
my.con <- file("c:/revised.csv", "w")
## Write the header, with quotes in the first column
writeLines('"",pe,se', my.con)
## Write the rest of the table as normal, without quotes
write.table(results.table, my.con, row.names = T, col.names = F, sep = ",", quote = FALSE)
close(my.con)