Define:

```
df <- data.frame(name=c("México","Michoacán"),dat=c(1,2))

```

s.t.

```
> df
        name dat
1    México   1
2 Michoacán   2

```

When I print this table to a `.tex` file using `xtable` the accented characters get garbled, which is no surprise.

I would like to replace accents with proper `Latex` formatting e.g.:

```
> df
     name dat
1 M\'{e}xico   1
2 Michoac\'{a}n   2

```

Please note in real dataset there are many different names with different accented letters but all with same type of accent (i.e. foward-slash), so the only thing that needs to change in `\'{.}` is the letter in place of the dot. 

In trying one reader's suggestion i did the following:

```
> df <- data.frame(name=c("México","Michoacán"),dat=c(1,2))
> df
        name dat
1    México   1
2 Michoacán   2
> df$name <- sub("é", "\\\\'{e}", df$name,)
> df
         name dat
1 M\\'{e}xico   1
2  Michoacán   2
> capture.output(
+       print(xtable(df)),
+       file = "../paper/rTables.tex", append = FALSE)

```

When I opened the *rTables.tex* file in Notepad:

```
% latex table generated in R 2.13.1 by xtable 1.5-6 package
% Fri Jul 15 13:19:17 2011
\begin{table}[ht]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{rlr}
  \hline
 & name & dat \\ 
  \hline
1 & M$\backslash$'\{e\}xico & 1.00 \\ 
  2 & Michoacán & 2.00 \\ 
   \hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\end{table}

```

This is not what is needed.