| name {base} | R Documentation |
Variable Names or Symbols, respectively
Description
as.symbol coerces its argument to be a symbol, or
equivalently, a name. The argument must be of mode
"character". as.name is an alias for as.symbol.
is.symbol (and is.name equivalently) returns TRUE
or FALSE depending on whether its argument is a symbol (i.e.,
name) or not.
Usage
as.symbol(x)
is.symbol(y)
as.name(x)
is.name(y)
Arguments
x, y |
objects to be coerced or tested. |
Details
is.symbol is generic: you can write methods to handle
specific classes of objects, see InternalMethods.
Note
The term “symbol” is from the LISP background of R, whereas “name” has been the standard S term for this.
References
Becker, R. A., Chambers, J. M. and Wilks, A. R. (1988) The New S Language. Wadsworth \& Brooks/Cole.
See Also
call, is.language.
For the internal object mode, typeof.
Examples
an <- as.name("arrg")
is.name(an) # TRUE
mode(an) # name
typeof(an) # symbol