r - How to save a data frame in a txt or excel file separated by columns

Question

I have a question about saving data frames in txt or excel format. I have a data frame in R but when I save it:

1. First using write.table() function when I open the saved data frame for example in Excel, all columns are grouped in one column and you have to separe the columns in Excel with a risk to lose data. The same happens with write.csv() function.

Is it posibble to save in R a data frame with all columns separated. Thanks.

Answer 1

My favorite way to achieve this (since I frequently need to share data frames processed in R with non-R users and it is convenient for them to just double click and have it open nicely in Excel) is:

write.table(x,"filename.txt",sep="",row.names=FALSE)

As mentioned above the sep="" argument tab delimits your file, but I think it is also useful to remove the row names unless needed.