methodUtilities           package:methods           R Documentation

Utility Functions for Methods and S-Plus Compatibility

Description:

     These are utilities, currently in the methods package, that either
     provide some functionality needed by the package (e.g., element
     matching by name), or add compatibility with S-Plus, or both.

Usage:

     functionBody(fun=sys.function(sys.parent()))

     allNames(x)

     getFunction(name, generic=TRUE, mustFind=TRUE, where)

     el(object, where)

     elNamed(x, name, mustFind=FALSE)

     formalArgs(def)

     Quote()

     message(...)

     showDefault(object, printTo = stdout(), oldMethods = TRUE)

Summary of Functions:

     `allNames': the character vector of names (unlike names(), never
          returns NULL)


     `getFunction': find the object as a function.


     `elNamed': get the element of the vector corresponding to name. 
          Unlike the `[', `[[', and `$' operators, this function
          requires  `name' to match the element name exactly (no
          partial matching).

     `formalArgs': Returns the names of the formal arguments of this
          function.


     `existsFunction': Is there a function of this name? If
          `generic==FALSE', generic functions are not counted.


     `findFunction': return all the indices of the search list on which
          a function definition for `name' exists.  

          If `generic' is `FALSE', ignore generic functions.

     `message': Output all the arguments, pasted together with no
          intervening spaces.

     `showDefault': Utility, used to enable `show' methods to be called
          by the automatic printing (via `print.default').

