cannot have a function argument named 'break'
No, they are reserved names. That is explained in MASS4 and R-lang, for example. The full list (of syntactically valid names) is FALSE Inf NA NaN NULL TRUE break else for function if in next repeat while (S also has return, T and F) Most progamming languages have reserved words, so I am surprised you are surprised.
On Sun, 2 Nov 2003, Spencer Graves wrote:
Yup. R 1.8.0 gives me a syntax error from "if", also:
> iff <- function(if)if
Error: syntax error spencer graves Thomas W Blackwell wrote:
Dear list - I just discovered to my surprise that I cannot define a function with an argument named 'break' or 'while'! 'breaks' is okay. Maybe this is no surprise to the R developers.
Brian D. Ripley, ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk Professor of Applied Statistics, http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/ University of Oxford, Tel: +44 1865 272861 (self) 1 South Parks Road, +44 1865 272866 (PA) Oxford OX1 3TG, UK Fax: +44 1865 272595