convert a vector to a list

Question

I have a vector like this

 c(\"1\", \"a\",\"b\")

and I\'d like to create this list

list(\"a\"=1,\"b\"=1)

is

Answer 1

Like this?

R> kn <- c("1", "a", "b")
R> nl <- vector(mode="list", length=length(kn)-1)
R> names(nl) <- kn[-1]
R> nl <- lapply(nl, function(x) kn[1])
R> nl
$a
[1] "1"

$b
[1] "1"

R> 

With kudos to Gavin for spotting an earlier error.