String strip

[semlar]

Originally Posted by Banknorris gsub(name,"%-[^ >]+","") Very nice! What is the purpose of the % in this pattern? I tried without it "-[^ >]+" and it apparently still works.

% escapes the dash so it's treated as a literal character, since it normally has a special function.

At the start of a pattern it likely doesn't change its behavior since it typically acts on the character in front of it.

[Banknorris]

Ah ok, thanks.