> See fortune("dog"). To wit: "Firstly, don't call your matrix 'matrix'. Would you call your dog 'dog'? Anyway, it might clash with the function 'matrix'"
I once had a cat named "kitty" and she never had a problem with it. Clashes between non-functions and functions that cause problems are not that common. With 4000 packages, each with a number of functions, it is hard to avoid using a name that someone has used for a function. Bill Dunlap Spotfire, TIBCO Software wdunlap tibco.com > -----Original Message----- > From: r-help-boun...@r-project.org [mailto:r-help-boun...@r-project.org] On > Behalf > Of Rolf Turner > Sent: Saturday, March 02, 2013 5:01 AM > To: Sarah Goslee > Cc: r-help > Subject: Re: [R] using reserved words in R, and reuse variable names in > different > functions > > On 03/02/2013 01:12 PM, Sarah Goslee wrote: > > On Fri, Mar 1, 2013 at 7:06 PM, C W <tmrs...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Thanks, that was just an example I came up with. I was just curious if > >> using same variable names in different functions would cause problems. > > No. The environment of a function is independent of other functions. > > > >> Especially with reserved words. > > Yes. Using reserved words can cause all kinds of subtle problems. Avoid it. > > > > Very sound advice. But it should be noted that "t", "c", and "matrix" > to which > the OP referred are *not* technically reserved words. Nonetheless their use > as names of user-defined objects should be eschewed. See fortune("dog"). > > You *can't* actually assign values to reserved words. E.g. > > TRUE <- 42 > > throws an error. (Whereas matrix <- 42, bad form though it may be, > does not throw an error.) > > cheers, > > Rolf Turner > > ______________________________________________ > 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. ______________________________________________ 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.