(x <- c("q10_1", "q10_2", "q10_11", "q12_1", "q12_2", "q13_1", "q13_11"))
# Which strings start with "q10" or "q12? - WORKS x[grep("^q10|q12", x)] # Which strings end with "1"? - WORKS x[grep("1$", x)] # Which strings end with "_1"? - WORKS x[grep("\\_1$", x)] # Which strings start with "q10" AND contain a "1"? - WORKS x[grep("^q10.+1", x)] # Which strings start with "q10" AND end with a "_1"? - DOES NOT WORK x[grep("^q10.+\\_1$", x)] # Which strings start with "q10" or "q12 AND end with "_1"? - WORKS INCORRECTLY x[grep("^q10|q12.+\\_1$", x)] Thank you! Dimitri Liakhovitski ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.