I don't know what save() "should" do - your use case is quite special
- but I agree it would be better if save() tests for the existence of
all object(s) to be saved before opening the connection (and thereby
overwrite the existing file). A workaround for you is to do:
dummy <- a;
save(a, file="a
If save() fails because an object is not found,
it should not overwrite an existing file.
> a <- 1:9
> save(a, file = "a.rda")
> rm(a)
> load("a.rda")
> a
[1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
> rm(a)
> save(a, file = "a.rda")
Error in save(a, file = "a.rda") : object 'a' not found
> load("a.rda")
Error
