Dear list It seems to me that extracting elements from a list using '[[' is somewhat faster than using '$'. For example:
> x <- as.list(1:25) > names(x) <- letters[1:length(x)] > dput(x) structure(list(a = 1L, b = 2L, c = 3L, d = 4L, e = 5L, f = 6L, g = 7L, h = 8L, i = 9L, j = 10L, k = 11L, l = 12L, m = 13L, n = 14L, o = 15L, p = 16L, q = 17L, r = 18L, s = 19L, t = 20L, u = 21L, v = 22L, w = 23L, x = 24L, y = 25L), .Names = c("a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f", "g", "h", "i", "j", "k", "l", "m", "n", "o", "p", "q", "r", "s", "t", "u", "v", "w", "x", "y")) > > system.time({ for (ii in 1:1000000) x[[21]] }) user system elapsed 0.55 0.00 0.54 > system.time({ for (ii in 1:1000000) x[["u"]]}) user system elapsed 0.84 0.00 0.84 > system.time({ for (ii in 1:1000000) x$u}) user system elapsed 1.12 0.00 1.13 Does anyone know if this is always the case? (I have not found anything about speed in this connection on the help pages, apologies if I have overlooked something). I use R.2.11.1 on Windows 7. Regards ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.