is.ratetable            package:survival            R Documentation

Verify that an Object is of Class 'ratetable'

Description:

     The function verifies not only the 'class' attribute, but the
     structure of the object.

Usage:

     is.ratetable(x, verbose=FALSE)

Arguments:

       x: the object to be verified. 

 verbose: if 'TRUE' and the object is not a ratetable, then return a
          character string describing the way(s) in which 'x' fails to
          be a proper ratetable object. 

Details:

     Rate tables are used by the 'pyears' and 'survexp' functions, and
     normally contain death rates for some population, categorized by
     age, sex, or other variables.  They have a fairly rigid structure,
     and the 'verbose' option can help in creating a new rate table.

Value:

     returns 'TRUE' if 'x' is a ratetable, and 'FALSE' or a description
     if it is not.

See Also:

     'pyears', 'survexp'

Examples:

     ## Not run: 
     library(ratetables)
     is.ratetable(survexp.us)  ##Yes
     data(cancer)
     is.ratetable(cancer)  ##No
     ## End(Not run)

