R Error in parse(text) : ＜text＞:1:2: unexpected symbol (2 Examples)

In this article you’ll learn how to handle the “Error in parse(text) : ＜text＞:1:2: unexpected symbol” in R.

Table of contents:

Here’s the step-by-step process!

Example 1: Reproduce the Error in parse(text) : ＜text＞:1:2: unexpected symbol

In this example, I’ll explain how to replicate the “Error in parse(text) : ＜text＞:1:2: unexpected symbol” in the R programming language.

Let’s assume that we want to parse the character string “5xxx”. Then, we might try to run the following R syntax:

parse(text = "5xxx")          # Try to apply parse
# Error in parse(text = "5xxx") : ＜text＞:1:2: unexpected symbol
# 1: 5xxx
#      ^

Unfortunately, the error message “Error in parse(text) : ＜text＞:1:2: unexpected symbol” was returned after executing the previous R code.

The reason for this is that the character string starts with a number, and the parse function is not able to parse such character strings without further specifications.

So how can we avoid this error message? Keep on reading!

Example 2: Solve the Error in parse(text) : ＜text＞:1:2: unexpected symbol

In this example, I’ll explain how to fix the “Error in parse(text) : ＜text＞:1:2: unexpected symbol”.

For this, we simply need to wrap ” around our character string as shown below:

parse(text = "'5xxx'")        # parse works fine
# expression("5xxx")

As you can see, the error message disappeared!

Video, Further Resources & Summary

Do you need further information on the content of this article? Then I recommend watching the following video on my YouTube channel. In the video, I’m explaining the contents of this tutorial.

The YouTube video will be added soon.

In addition, you may want to have a look at some of the related tutorials on my website. A selection of tutorials is listed below:

• Handling Errors & Warnings in R
• All R Programming Examples

This tutorial has illustrated how to deal with the “Error in parse(text) : ＜text＞:1:2: unexpected symbol” in the R programming language. Don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments, in case you have additional questions. Besides that, please subscribe to my email newsletter for regular updates on the newest tutorials.