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Using object.size inside a function

2 messages · Bos, Roger, Duncan Murdoch

Original
Bos, Roger
# 
When I encounter memory errors, I like to see the size of the objects in
memory, so I modified one of the examples:

    z <- sapply(ls(), function(x) object.size(get(x)))
    as.matrix(rev(sort(z))[1:10])

This works fine if I run it as is, but if I try to place it inside a
function, I get an error (see below).  I tried using sort.list and
unlist, but I couldn't get it to work.  I don't understand why the
commands work by themselves but not in a function.  Its probably a
simple fix, can anyone enlighten me?

Thanks, Roger.
+     z <- sapply(ls(), function(x) object.size(get(x)))
+     as.matrix(rev(sort(z))[1:10])
+ }
Error in sort.list(z) : 'x' must be atomic for 'sort.list'
Have you called 'sort' on a list?
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Duncan Murdoch
#
On 13/04/2010 8:43 AM, Bos, Roger wrote:
At the time you call ls(), you have no local variables, so it returns an 
empty list, and z ends up as list().  sort() can't handle that.

I imagine you wanted ls() on the global environment, not on the locals, 
so you should write the function as

"mysize" <- function(envir=globalenv()) {
    z <- sapply(ls(envir=envir), function(x) object.size(get(x,envir=envir)))
    as.matrix(rev(sort(z))[1:10])
}

Duncan Murdoch