Re: [R] Subset with missing argument within a function

R's subscripting operators do not "guess" the value of a missing argument: a missing k'th subscript means seq_len(dim(x)[k]). I bet that you use syntax like x[,1] (the entire first column of x) all the time and that you don't want this syntax to go away. Some languages use a placeholder like '.' o

Re: [R] Subset with missing argument within a function

Thanks Bill, This is more clear. In any case, I find very inappropriate that a programming language tries to guess the value of a missing argument. It is unfair towards code developers and it promotes the production of bugged piece of software. I hope R will revise its policies sooner or later.

Re: [R] Subset with missing argument within a function

The "missingness" of an argument gets passed down through nested function calls. E.g., fOuter <- function(x) c(outerMissing=missing(x), innerMissing=fInner(x)) fInner <- function(x) missing(x) fInner() #[1] TRUE fOuter() #outerMissing innerMissing # TRUE TRUE It is only

Re: [R] Subset with missing argument within a function

Hi Petr, Thank you for your answer. I'm not sure how the empty index reflects what I'm showing in my example. If my function was emptySubset <- function(vec) vec[] I would then agree that this was the case. But I think it's different: I'm specifically telling my function that it should have two

Re: [R] Subset with missing argument within a function

Hi Help page for ?"[" says An empty index selects all values: this is most often used to replace all the entries but keep the attributes. and actually you function construction works with empty index > x<-c(1,2,5) > letters[x] [1] "a" "b" "e" > letters[] [1] "a" "b" "c" "d" "e" "f" "g" "h" "i