Stack Overflow Errors

Description

Errors signaled by R when stacks used in evaluation overflow.

Details

R uses several stacks in evaluating expressions: the C stack, the pointer protection stack, and the node stack used by the byte code engine. In addition, the number of nested R expressions currently under evaluation is limited by the value set as options("expressions"). Overflowing these stacks or limits signals an error that inherits from classes stackOverflowError, error, and condition.

The specific classes signaled are:

• CStackOverflowError: Signaled when the C stack overflows. The usage field of the error object contains the current stack usage.

• protectStackOverflowError: Signaled when the pointer protection stack overflows.

• nodeStackOverflowError: Signaled when the node stack used by the byte code engine overflows.

• expressionStackOverflowError: Signaled when the the evaluation depth, the number of nested R expressions currently under evaluation, exceeds the limit set by options("expressions")

Stack overflow errors can be caught and handled by exiting handlers established with tryCatch(). Calling handlers established by withCallingHandlers() may fail since there may not be enough stack space to run the handler. In this case the next available exiting handler will be run, or error handling will fall back to the default handler. Default handlers set by tryCatch("error") may also fail to run in a stack overflow situation.

See Also

Cstack_info for information on the environment and the evaluation depth limit.

Memory and options for information on the protection stack.