[R] How to get the definition of a function if it is masked by a variable?

[John Fox]

Dear Tom,

You can use getAnywhere(); for example:

> mean <- 1

> getAnywhere("mean")
2 differing objects matching 'mean' were found
in the following places
  .GlobalEnv
  package:base
  namespace:base
Use [] to view one of them

> getAnywhere("mean")[1]
[1] 1

> getAnywhere("mean")[2]
function (x, ...) 
UseMethod("mean")
<environment: namespace:base>

> getAnywhere("mean")[3]
function (x, ...) 
UseMethod("mean")
<environment: namespace:base>

I hope this helps,
 John

--------------------------------
John Fox
Senator William McMaster 
  Professor of Social Statistics
Department of Sociology
McMaster University
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
web: socserv.mcmaster.ca/jfox


> -----Original Message-----
> From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org]
On
> Behalf Of thmsfuller066 at gmail.com
> Sent: May-28-10 2:55 PM
> To: r-help at r-project.org
> Subject: [R] How to get the definition of a function if it is masked by a
> variable?
> 
> Hello,
> 
> Normally, if I type a function name, it shows the function definition.
> When the function is masked by a variable with the same name, it
> doesn't show the function definition any more. Can anyone please tell
> me a way how to retrieve the function definition even if it is masked
> by a variable?
> 
> > x=1:3
> > length(x)
> [1] 3
> > length
> function (x)  .Primitive("length")
> > length=10
> > length
> [1] 10
> > length(x)
> [1] 3
> 
> --
> Tom
> 
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