lines = 'Cluster Distance Velocity Virgo 22 0.75 Pegasus 68 2.4 Perseus 108 3.2 Coma_Berenices 137 4.7 Ursa_Major_No_1 255 9.3 Leo 315 12.0 Corona_Borea1is 390 13.4 Gemini 405 14.4 Bootes 685 24.5 Ursa_Major_No_2 700 26.0 Hydra 1100 38.0' con = textConnection( lines ) DF = read.table( con, header=TRUE ) close(con)