get                   package:base                   R Documentation

Return the Value of a Named Object

Description:

     Search for an R object with a given name and return it.

Usage:

     get(x, pos=-1, envir=as.environment(pos), mode="any", inherits=TRUE)
     mget(x, envir, mode = "any",
          ifnotfound = list(function(x) stop(paste("value for \"", 
         x, "\" not found", sep = ""), call. = FALSE)), inherits = FALSE)

Arguments:

       x: a variable name (given as a character string).

     pos: where to look for the object (see the details section); if
          omitted, the function will search as if the name of the
          object appeared unquoted in an expression.

   envir: an alternative way to specify an environment to look in; see
          the details section.

    mode: the mode of object sought.

inherits: should the enclosing frames of the environment be searched?

ifnotfound: A 'list' of values to be used if the item is not found.

Details:

     The 'pos' argument can specify the environment in which to look
     for the object in any of several ways: as an integer (the position
     in the 'search' list); as the character string name of an element
     in the search list; or as an 'environment' (including using
     'sys.frame' to access the currently active function calls).  The
     'envir' argument is an alternative way to specify an environment,
     but is primarily there for back compatibility.

     This function looks to see if the name 'x' has a value bound to it
     in the specified environment. If 'inherits' is 'TRUE' and a value
     is not found for 'x' in the specified environment, the enclosing
     frames of the environment (and the search path) are searched until
     the name 'x' is encountered.  *Warning:* 'inherits=TRUE' is the
     default behaviour for R but not for S.

     The 'mode' may specify collections such as '"numeric"' and
     '"function"': any member of the collection will suffice.

     Using a 'NULL' environment is equivalent to using the current
     environment.

     For 'mget' multiple values are returned in a named 'list'. This is
     true even if only one value is requested. The value in 'mode' and
     'ifnotfound' can be either the same length as the number of
     requested items or of length 1. The argument 'ifnotfound' must be
     a list containing either the value to use if the requested item is
     not found or a function of one argument which will be called if
     the item is not found. The argument is the name of the item being
     requested. The default value for 'inherits' is 'FALSE', in
     contrast to the default behavior for 'get'.

Value:

     The object found.  (If no object is found an error results.)

References:

     Becker, R. A., Chambers, J. M. and Wilks, A. R. (1988) _The New S
     Language_. Wadsworth & Brooks/Cole.

See Also:

     'exists'.

Examples:

     get("%o%")

     ##test mget
     e1 <- new.env()
     mget(letters, e1, ifnotfound=LETTERS)

