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extracting pkg fcn info

5 messages · Natalie Hawkins, Thomas Lumley, Brian Ripley +1 more

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Natalie Hawkins
# 
I would like to learn what functions are available in a given R package
(say, the pkg sma) and
what the arguments and return value is for each of those functions.

Is there an R CMD available for that or a suggested method for easily
extracting
that information?

thanks,
Natalie.




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Thomas Lumley
#
On Mon, 2 Jul 2001, Natalie Hawkins wrote:

            

      
      
      
    

        
help(library="package")

will give a listing of the functions (and perhaps other information).

For a list of all the arguments and return values I would suggest the PDF
manual pages for that package. These are all on CRAN or can be built from
the latex help.

You could get the arguments from
 library("somepackage")
 sapply(ls(pos=2),function(nm) args(get(nm)))
but that wouldn't tell you want it meant.

	-thomas

Thomas Lumley			Asst. Professor, Biostatistics
tlumley at u.washington.edu	University of Washington, Seattle

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      A.J. Rossini
    

    

      
      #
    

  


  

      
An extension to what Natalie asked -- has anyone written an R function
to do something like:

        list.api(function)

which returns arguments, classes, and return statements?

best,
-tony

            

      
      
      
    

        

        
TL> On Mon, 2 Jul 2001, Natalie Hawkins wrote:

        
>> 
    >> 
    >> I would like to learn what functions are available in a given R
    >> package (say, the pkg sma) and what the arguments and return
    >> value is for each of those functions.
    >> 
    >> Is there an R CMD available for that or a suggested method for
    >> easily extracting that information?

    TL> help(library="package")

    TL> will give a listing of the functions (and perhaps other
    TL> information).

    TL> For a list of all the arguments and return values I would
    TL> suggest the PDF manual pages for that package. These are all
    TL> on CRAN or can be built from the latex help.

    TL> You could get the arguments from library("somepackage")
    TL> sapply(ls(pos=2),function(nm) args(get(nm))) but that wouldn't
    TL> tell you want it meant.

    TL> 	-thomas

    TL> Thomas Lumley Asst. Professor, Biostatistics
    TL> tlumley at u.washington.edu University of Washington, Seattle

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    TL> http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html Send "info",
    TL> "help", or "[un]subscribe" (in the "body", not the subject !)
    TL> To: r-help-request at stat.math.ethz.ch
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      Brian Ripley
    

    

      
      #
    

  


  

      
On 2 Jul 2001, A.J. Rossini wrote:

        

            

      
      
      
    

        
The last may well depend on the inputs, and for generic functions just
about anything will depend on the inputs.

I don't see this as of much use apart from chacking documentation, and
codoc does have code to extract the arguments from the help and the
function.

With a richer help system (being dreamt about) you would be able to get
this from the documentation.

            

      
      
      
    

        

  
    

      
      
    

  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      A.J. Rossini
    

    

      
      #
    

  


  

          

      
      
      
    

        

        
BDR> On 2 Jul 2001, A.J. Rossini wrote:

        
>> An extension to what Natalie asked -- has anyone written an R
    >> function to do something like:
    >> 
    >> list.api(function)
    >> 
    >> which returns arguments, classes, and return statements?

    BDR> The last may well depend on the inputs, and for generic
    BDR> functions just about anything will depend on the inputs.

That's true, and in some contexts, it would be nice to see it all.
(I.e. a list of potentially returned objects).

    BDR> I don't see this as of much use apart from chacking
    BDR> documentation, and codoc does have code to extract the
    BDR> arguments from the help and the function.

Actually, it is of incredible use in OOP.  Just not the form that R
(or XLispStat) uses.

best,
-tony