[R] Rownames are always character?

[Mike Prager]

Mike Prager <mike.prager at noaa.gov> wrote:

> Gurus,
> 
> Can I rely on the rownames() function, when applied to a matrix,
> always returning either NULL or an object of type character?  It
> seems that row names can be entered as integers, but as of now
> (R 2.4.1 on Windows) the function returns character vectors, not
> numbers (which is my desired result).

(To clarify my point on this Friday afternoon:  the observed
behavior is my desired result.  I'm just asking, can I count on
it?)

> I am using elements of the returned vector to index the matrix.
> e.g.,
> 
> nams <- rownames(mymat)
> for (thisnam in nams) {
> 	myvec <- mymat[thisnam, ]
> 	# ... more code ...
> }

-- 
Mike Prager, NOAA, Beaufort, NC
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