[Rd] Feature Request: Allow Underscore Separated Numbers

[Ben Bolker]

On 2022-07-14 8:21 p.m., avi.e.gross using gmail.com wrote:
> Devin,
> 
> I cannot say anyone wants to tweak R after the fact to accept numeric items
> with underscores as that might impact all kinds of places.
> 
> Can I suggest a workaround that allows you to enter your integer (or
> floating point which gets truncated) using this:
> 
> underint <- function(text) as.integer(gsub("_+", "", text))
> 
> Use a call to that anywhere you want an int like:
> 
> result <- underint("1_000_000") + underint("6___6__6_6") - 6000
> 
> results in: 100666
> 
> If you want to see the result with underscores, using something like
> scales::comma as in
> 
> You can also make similar functions that use as.numeric() and as.double()
> but note that this allows you to enter data at somewhat greater expense and
> as text/strings. Obviously a similar technique can be used with regular
> expressions of many kinds to wipe out or replace anything, including commas
> with this:
> 
> undernumeric <- function(text) as.numeric(gsub("[,_]+", "", text))
> 
> undernumeric("123,456.789_012")
> [1] 123456.8
> 
> Yes, it truncated it but I am sure any combo of underscores and commas will
> be removed. It also truncates the same thing with all numerals and a period.
> 

   It's not really 'truncated', it's just printed with limited 
precision.  (Sorry if I'm telling you something you already know ...)

options(digits = 22)
undernumeric("123,456.789_012")
[1] 123456.7890119999938179

(and there's floating point inaccuracy rearing its ugly head again; 
options(digits=16) works well for this example ...)

> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: R-devel <r-devel-bounces using r-project.org> On Behalf Of Devin Marlin
> Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2022 3:54 PM
> To: r-devel using r-project.org
> Subject: [Rd] Feature Request: Allow Underscore Separated Numbers
> 
> Hello,
> 
> After using R for a number of years, and venturing into other languages,
> I've noticed the ones with the ability to enter numbers separated by
> underscores for readability (like 100000 as 100_000) make life a whole lot
> easier, especially when debugging. Is this a feature that could be
> implemented in R?
> 
> Regards,
> 
> --
> *Devin Marlin*
> 
> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> 
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-- 
Dr. Benjamin Bolker
Professor, Mathematics & Statistics and Biology, McMaster University
Director, School of Computational Science and Engineering
(Acting) Graduate chair, Mathematics & Statistics