checkCharacter: Check if an argument is a vector of type character

In checkmate: Fast and Versatile Argument Checks

Check if an argument is a vector of type character

Description

To check for scalar strings, see checkString.

Usage

checkCharacter(
  x,
  n.chars = NULL,
  min.chars = NULL,
  max.chars = NULL,
  pattern = NULL,
  fixed = NULL,
  ignore.case = FALSE,
  any.missing = TRUE,
  all.missing = TRUE,
  len = NULL,
  min.len = NULL,
  max.len = NULL,
  unique = FALSE,
  sorted = FALSE,
  names = NULL,
  typed.missing = FALSE,
  null.ok = FALSE
)

check_character(
  x,
  n.chars = NULL,
  min.chars = NULL,
  max.chars = NULL,
  pattern = NULL,
  fixed = NULL,
  ignore.case = FALSE,
  any.missing = TRUE,
  all.missing = TRUE,
  len = NULL,
  min.len = NULL,
  max.len = NULL,
  unique = FALSE,
  sorted = FALSE,
  names = NULL,
  typed.missing = FALSE,
  null.ok = FALSE
)

assertCharacter(
  x,
  n.chars = NULL,
  min.chars = NULL,
  max.chars = NULL,
  pattern = NULL,
  fixed = NULL,
  ignore.case = FALSE,
  any.missing = TRUE,
  all.missing = TRUE,
  len = NULL,
  min.len = NULL,
  max.len = NULL,
  unique = FALSE,
  sorted = FALSE,
  names = NULL,
  typed.missing = FALSE,
  null.ok = FALSE,
  .var.name = vname(x),
  add = NULL
)

assert_character(
  x,
  n.chars = NULL,
  min.chars = NULL,
  max.chars = NULL,
  pattern = NULL,
  fixed = NULL,
  ignore.case = FALSE,
  any.missing = TRUE,
  all.missing = TRUE,
  len = NULL,
  min.len = NULL,
  max.len = NULL,
  unique = FALSE,
  sorted = FALSE,
  names = NULL,
  typed.missing = FALSE,
  null.ok = FALSE,
  .var.name = vname(x),
  add = NULL
)

testCharacter(
  x,
  n.chars = NULL,
  min.chars = NULL,
  max.chars = NULL,
  pattern = NULL,
  fixed = NULL,
  ignore.case = FALSE,
  any.missing = TRUE,
  all.missing = TRUE,
  len = NULL,
  min.len = NULL,
  max.len = NULL,
  unique = FALSE,
  sorted = FALSE,
  names = NULL,
  typed.missing = FALSE,
  null.ok = FALSE
)

test_character(
  x,
  n.chars = NULL,
  min.chars = NULL,
  max.chars = NULL,
  pattern = NULL,
  fixed = NULL,
  ignore.case = FALSE,
  any.missing = TRUE,
  all.missing = TRUE,
  len = NULL,
  min.len = NULL,
  max.len = NULL,
  unique = FALSE,
  sorted = FALSE,
  names = NULL,
  typed.missing = FALSE,
  null.ok = FALSE
)

expect_character(
  x,
  n.chars = NULL,
  min.chars = NULL,
  max.chars = NULL,
  pattern = NULL,
  fixed = NULL,
  ignore.case = FALSE,
  any.missing = TRUE,
  all.missing = TRUE,
  len = NULL,
  min.len = NULL,
  max.len = NULL,
  unique = FALSE,
  sorted = FALSE,
  names = NULL,
  typed.missing = FALSE,
  null.ok = FALSE,
  info = NULL,
  label = vname(x)
)

Arguments

x	[any] Object to check.
n.chars	[integer(1)] Exact number of characters for each element of x.
min.chars	[integer(1)] Minimum number of characters for each element of x.
max.chars	[integer(1)] Maximum number of characters for each element of x.
pattern	[character(1)] Regular expression as used in grepl. All non-missing elements of x must comply to this pattern.
fixed	[character(1)] Substring to detect in x. Will be used as pattern in grepl with option fixed set to TRUE. All non-missing elements of x must contain this substring.
ignore.case	[logical(1)] See grepl. Default is FALSE.
any.missing	[logical(1)] Are vectors with missing values allowed? Default is TRUE.
all.missing	[logical(1)] Are vectors with no non-missing values allowed? Default is TRUE. Note that empty vectors do not have non-missing values.
len	[integer(1)] Exact expected length of x.
min.len	[integer(1)] Minimal length of x.
max.len	[integer(1)] Maximal length of x.
unique	[logical(1)] Must all values be unique? Default is FALSE.
sorted	[logical(1)] Elements must be sorted in ascending order. Missing values are ignored.
names	[character(1)] Check for names. See checkNamed for possible values. Default is “any” which performs no check at all. Note that you can use checkSubset to check for a specific set of names.
typed.missing	[logical(1)] If set to FALSE (default), all types of missing values (NA, NA_integer_, NA_real_, NA_character_ or NA_character_) as well as empty vectors are allowed while type-checking atomic input. Set to TRUE to enable strict type checking.
null.ok	[logical(1)] If set to TRUE, x may also be NULL. In this case only a type check of x is performed, all additional checks are disabled.
.var.name	[character(1)] Name of the checked object to print in assertions. Defaults to the heuristic implemented in vname.
add	[AssertCollection] Collection to store assertion messages. See AssertCollection.
info	[character(1)] Extra information to be included in the message for the testthat reporter. See expect_that.
label	[character(1)] Name of the checked object to print in messages. Defaults to the heuristic implemented in vname.

Details

This function does not distinguish between NA, NA_integer_, NA_real_, NA_complex_ NA_character_ and NaN.

Value

Depending on the function prefix: If the check is successful, the functions assertCharacter/assert_character return x invisibly, whereas checkCharacter/check_character and testCharacter/test_character return TRUE. If the check is not successful, assertCharacter/assert_character throws an error message, testCharacter/test_character returns FALSE, and checkCharacter/check_character return a string with the error message. The function expect_character always returns an expectation.

See Also

Other basetypes: checkArray(), checkAtomic(), checkAtomicVector(), checkComplex(), checkDataFrame(), checkDate(), checkDouble(), checkEnvironment(), checkFactor(), checkFormula(), checkFunction(), checkInteger(), checkIntegerish(), checkList(), checkLogical(), checkMatrix(), checkNull(), checkNumeric(), checkPOSIXct(), checkRaw(), checkVector()

Examples

testCharacter(letters, min.len = 1, any.missing = FALSE)
testCharacter(letters, min.chars = 2)
testCharacter("example", pattern = "xa")

checkmate documentation built on Aug. 18, 2025, 5:36 p.m.