compareLengths: Compare the lengths of two objects

In Ecfun: Functions for 'Ecdat'

Compare the lengths of two objects

Description

Issue a warning or error if the lengths of two objects are not compatible.

Usage

compareLengths(x, y, 
   name.x=deparse(substitute(x), width.cutoff, 
      nlines=1, ...), 
   name.y=deparse(substitute(y), width.cutoff, 
      nlines=1, ...), 
   message0='', compFun=c('NROW', 'length'), 
   action=c(compatible='', incompatible='warning'), 
   length0=c('compatible', 'incompatible', 'stop'), 
   width.cutoff=20, ...) 

Arguments

x, y	objects whose lengths are to be compared
name.x, name.y	names of x and y to use in a message. Default = deparse(substitute(.), width.cutoff, nlines=1).
message0	character string to be included with name.x and name.y in a message.
compFun	function to use in the comparison.
action	A character vector of length 2 giving the names of functions to call if the lengths are not equal but are either 'compatible' or 'incompatible'; ” means no action.
length0	If length(x) or length(y) = 0 (but not both), treat this case as specified by length0.
width.cutoff	width.cutoff argument to pass to deparse. This gives the maximum number of characters to use in a name in error and warning messages.
...	optional arguments for deparse

Details

1. If nchar(name.x) = 0 = nchar(name.y), set name.x <- 'x', name.y <- 'y', and append 'in compareLengths:' to message0 for more informative messaging.

2. lenx <- do.call(compFun, list(x)); leny <- do.call(compFun, list(y))

3. if(lenx==leny)return(c('equal', ''))

4. Compatible?

5. Compose the message.

6. "action", as indicated

Value

A character vector of length 2. The first element is either 'equal', 'compatible' or 'incompatible'. The second element is the message composed.

Author(s)

Spencer Graves with help from Duncan Murdoch

See Also

interpChar

Examples

##
## 1.  equal 
##

all.equal(compareLengths(1:3, 4:6), c("equal", ''))


##
## 2.  compatible 
##
a <- 1:2
b <- letters[1:6]
comp.ab <- compareLengths(a, b, message0='Chk:')
comp.ba <- compareLengths(b, a, message0='Chk:')
# check 
chk.ab <- c('compatible', 
            'Chk: length(b) = 6 is 3 times length(a) = 2')

all.equal(comp.ab, chk.ab) 


all.equal(comp.ba, chk.ab) 


##
## 3.  incompatible 
##
Z <- LETTERS[1:3]
comp.aZ <- compareLengths(a, Z)
# check 
chk.aZ <- c('incompatible', 
    ' length(Z) = 3 is not a multiple of length(a) = 2')

all.equal(comp.aZ, chk.aZ) 

##
## 4.  problems with name.x and name.y 
##
comp.ab2 <- compareLengths(a, b, '', '')
# check 
chk.ab2 <- c('compatible', 
             'in compareLengths: length(y) = 6 is 3 times length(x) = 2')

all.equal(comp.ab2, chk.ab2) 

##
## 5.  zeroLength 
##
zeroLen <- compareLengths(logical(0), 1) 
# check 
zeroL <- c('compatible', ' length(logical(0)) = 0')

all.equal(zeroLen, zeroL)

Ecfun documentation built on April 12, 2025, 2:27 a.m.