[Rd] mydataframe$colname: using substring of colname may also match some column (PR#7496)

marc at intershop.de marc at intershop.de
Wed Jan 12 11:50:50 CET 2005


Full_Name: Marc Mamin
Version: 1.8, 2.0.0
OS: Windows & Linux
Submission from: (NULL) (217.17.202.254)


Using only the beginning of a column name will match it:

>aaa<-1
>df<-as.data.frame(aaa)
>names(df)
[1] "aaa"

>df$a   
[1] 1 !!!!!!!!! (I expect df$a to be undefind)

>df$x
>NULL

Compare with:

> df["aaa"]
  aaa
1   1

> df["a"]
Error in "[.data.frame"(df, "a") : undefined columns selected


Here another example that underline how problematic this issue can be:

aa1<-1
aa2<-2
df<-as.data.frame(aa1,aa2)
> df$aa
[1] 1   (only the first matching column is retrieved)



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