read.csv importing two columns instead of one - r

Question

I'm trying to import a csv file into a vector. There are 100 entries in this csv file, and this is what the file looks like:
My code reads as follows:
> choice_vector <- read.csv("choices.csv", header = FALSE, fileEncoding="UTF-8-BOM")
> choice_vector
And yet, when I try to display said vector, it shows up as:
It is somehow creating a second column which I cannot figure out why it is doing so. In addition, trying to write to a new csv file actually writes the contents of that second column to that as well.

Answer 1

The second column was "habilitated" in excel.
Option1: Manually delete the column in excel.
Option2: Delete all columns with all NA
choice_vector2 <- choice_vector[,colSums(is.na(choice_vector))<nrow(choice_vector)]
In case of being interested in reading the first column only:
choice_vector <- read.csv("choices.csv", header = FALSE, fileEncoding="UTF-8-BOM")[,1]
Good luck!

Answer 2

Short answer:
You have an issue with your data file, but
choice_vector <- read.csv("choices.csv", header = FALSE, fileEncoding="UTF-8-BOM")$V1
should create the vector that you're expecting.
Long answer:
The read.csv function returns a data frame and you need to address a particular column within the data frame with the $ operator in order to extract that column as a vector. As for why you have an unexpected column of NAs, your CSV probably codes for two columns. When you read a CSV with R, a comma indicates a data field to its right. If you look at your CSV with a text editor, I'm guessing it'll look like this:
A,
B,
D,
A,
A,
F,
The absence of anything (other than another comma or a line break) to the right of a comma is interpreted as NA.

Answer 3

If we are using fread from data.table, there is a select option to select only the columns of interest
library(data.table)
dt <- fread("choices.csv", select = 1)
Other than that, it is not clear about why the issue happens. Could be some strange white space. If that is the case, specify strip.white = TRUE (by default it is FALSE)
read.csv(("choices.csv", header = FALSE,
fileEncoding="UTF-8-BOM", strip.white = TRUE)
Or as we commented, copy the columns of interest into a new file, save it and then read with read.csv