[R] Confused: Inconsistent result?

[David Winsemius]

On Feb 20, 2012, at 10:07 AM, Ajay Askoolum wrote:

> This is copy & paste from my session:
>
>> xyz<-as.vector(c(ls(),as.matrix(lapply(ls(),class))))
>> dim(xyz)<-c(length(xyz)/2,2)
>>
>> allobj<-function(){
> + xyz<-as.vector(c(ls(),as.matrix(lapply(ls(),class))));
> + dim(xyz)<-c(length(xyz)/2,2);
> + return(xyz)
> + }
>> xyz
>       [,1]              [,2]
>  [1,] "a"               "character"
>  [2,] "aa"              "character"
>  [3,] "abc"             "character"
>  [4,] "AirPassengers"   "character"
>  [5,] "allobj"          "character"
>  [6,] "allObjects"      "character"
>  [7,] "allObjects2"     "character"
>  [8,] "arrayFromAPL"    "character"
>  [9,] "classes"         "character"
> [10,] "myCharVector"    "character"
> [11,] "myDateVector"    "character"
> [12,] "myNumericVector" "character"
> [13,] "newArrayFromAPL" "character"
> [14,] "obj"             "character"
> [15,] "objClass"        "character"
> [16,] "x"               "character"
> [17,] "xyz"             "character"
> [18,] "y"               "character"
>> allobj()
>      [,1] [,2]
>>
>
> As far as I can see, the function allobj has the same expressions as  
> those executed from the command line. Why are the results different?

The ls function looks only in the local environment if not supplied  
with specific directions about where to look.

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David Winsemius, MD
West Hartford, CT