write() gotcha

On Mon, 18 Dec 2006, Robin Hankin wrote:

Hi

I used write() the other day to save some results.

Why not save()?  It is the only way to preserve the results exactly.

It seems that write() does not record the full precision of
the objects being written:

[snip]

What's going on here?

See ?cat, for which write is a wrapper.

Professor Ripley

Thanks for this.  I'll use save() instead.

Also, could we clarify this issue in the write() manpage?  Although its
behaviour is  clear from the code, I'm sure other R users would
appreciate a hint or a warning that precision might be lost.  It cost
me a few hours of worry last night!



--
Robin Hankin
Uncertainty Analyst
National Oceanography Centre, Southampton
European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK
  tel  023-8059-7743