title: Split a string into a vector of single character strings
body: <p>I have a string like <code>"abcde"</code> and want it split into a vector like</p>
  
  <pre><code>&gt; c("a", "b", "c", "d", "e")
  [1] "a" "b" "c" "d" "e"
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I found one way that I'll post as an answer but I am hoping someone else has a simpler way to do this, either in base R or using a package.</p>