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edited Oct 30, 2016 at 0:33

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stillStill trying to get into the R logic... what is the "best" way to unpack (on LHS) the results from a function returning multiple values?

I can't do this apparently:

R> functionReturningTwoValues <- function() { return(c(1, 2)) } R> functionReturningTwoValues() [1] 1 2 R> a, b <- functionReturningTwoValues() Error: unexpected ',' in "a," R> c(a, b) <- functionReturningTwoValues() Error in c(a, b) <- functionReturningTwoValues() : object 'a' not found

must I really do the following?

R> r <- functionReturningTwoValues() R> a <- r[1]; b <- r[2]

or would the R programmer write something more like this:

R> functionReturningTwoValues <- function() {return(list(first=1, second=2))} R> r <- functionReturningTwoValues() R> r$first [1] 1 R> r$second [1] 2

--- edited to answer Shane's questions ---

I don't really need giving names to the result value parts. I am applying one aggregate function to the first component and an other to the second component (min and max. if it was the same function for both components I would not need splitting them).

still trying to get into the R logic... what is the "best" way to unpack the results from a function returning multiple values?

I can't do this apparently:

R> functionReturningTwoValues <- function() { return(c(1, 2)) } R> functionReturningTwoValues() [1] 1 2 R> a, b <- functionReturningTwoValues() Error: unexpected ',' in "a," R> c(a, b) <- functionReturningTwoValues() Error in c(a, b) <- functionReturningTwoValues() : object 'a' not found

must I really do the following?

R> r <- functionReturningTwoValues() R> a <- r[1]; b <- r[2]

or would the R programmer write something more like this:

R> functionReturningTwoValues <- function() {return(list(first=1, second=2))} R> r <- functionReturningTwoValues() R> r$first [1] 1 R> r$second [1] 2

--- edited to answer Shane's questions ---

I don't really need giving names to the result value parts. I am applying one aggregate function to the first component and an other to the second component (min and max. if it was the same function for both components I would not need splitting them).

Still trying to get into the R logic... what is the "best" way to unpack (on LHS) the results from a function returning multiple values?

I can't do this apparently:

R> functionReturningTwoValues <- function() { return(c(1, 2)) } R> functionReturningTwoValues() [1] 1 2 R> a, b <- functionReturningTwoValues() Error: unexpected ',' in "a," R> c(a, b) <- functionReturningTwoValues() Error in c(a, b) <- functionReturningTwoValues() : object 'a' not found

must I really do the following?

R> r <- functionReturningTwoValues() R> a <- r[1]; b <- r[2]

or would the R programmer write something more like this:

R> functionReturningTwoValues <- function() {return(list(first=1, second=2))} R> r <- functionReturningTwoValues() R> r$first [1] 1 R> r$second [1] 2

--- edited to answer Shane's questions ---

I don't really need giving names to the result value parts. I am applying one aggregate function to the first component and an other to the second component (min and max. if it was the same function for both components I would not need splitting them).