[Rd] string concatenation operator (revisited)

[Bob Rudis]

FWIW {stringi} has %+% for this functionality (and I occasionally use
it), tho I do enough processing of quite ughly string content that I
pretty much always have {stringi} loaded. That may not be true for
many other folks.

On Fri, Dec 10, 2021 at 2:07 PM Grant McDermott <grantmcd using uoregon.edu> wrote:
>
> Sorry I haven't had a chance to reply to anyone. I feel like I dropped a grenade in a room and promptly bolted...
>
> Just to say, then, that I really appreciate everyone's comments and suggestions. While I'm tempted to push back on some points, I don't think it's worth on balance, or will add much beyond what's already been said.
>
> It's interesting to see that there appears to be at least some appetite for additional (f)string operators in base R... notwithstanding the valid objections and the difficulties raised in this thread.
>
> Cheers,
> Grant
>
> Get Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/AAb9ysg>
> ________________________________
> From: Grant McDermott
> Sent: Saturday, December 4, 2021 12:36:44 PM
> To: r-devel using r-project.org <r-devel using r-project.org>
> Subject: string concatenation operator (revisited)
>
> Hi all,
>
> I wonder if the R Core team might reconsider an old feature request, as detailed in this 2005 thread: https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2005-February/thread.html#66698
>
> The TL;DR version is base R support for a `+.character` method. This would essentially provide a shortcut to `paste0`, in much the same way that `\(x)` now provides a shortcut to `function(x)`.
>
> > a = "hello "; b = "world"
> > a + b
> > [1] "hello world"
>
> I appreciate some of the original concerns raised against a native "string1 + string2" implementation. The above thread also provides several use-at-your-own-risk workarounds. But sixteen years is a long time in software development and R now stands as something of an exception on this score. Python, Julia, Stata, and SQL (among various others) all support native string concatenation/interpolation using binary/arithmetic operators. It's been a surprising source of frustration for students in some of the classes I teach, particularly those coming from another language.
>
> Many thanks for considering.
>
> PS. I hope I didn't miss any additional discussion of this issue beyond the original 2005 thread. My search efforts didn't turn anything else up, except this popular Stackoverflow question: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4730551/making-a-string-concatenation-operator-in-r
>
> Grant McDermott
> Assistant Professor
> Department of Economics
> University of Oregon
> www.grantmcdermott.com
>
>
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