[R] environment question

[Edna Bell]

Hi R users!

I was looking at some of the example code for the "environment"
function.  Here it is:

e1 <- new.env(parent = baseenv())  # this one has enclosure package:base.
e2 <- new.env(parent = e1)
assign("a", 3, envir=e1)
ls(e1)
ls(e2)
exists("a", envir=e2)   # this succeeds by inheritance
exists("a", envir=e2, inherits = FALSE)
exists("+", envir=e2)   # this succeeds by inheritance

My question is: how can "a" exist in e2 when the ls(e2) gives
character(0), please?

Thanks,
Edna Bell