[Rd] Surprising length() of POSIXlt vector (PR#14073)

[Peter Dalgaard]

mark at celos.net wrote:
> Arrays of POSIXlt dates always return a length of 9.  This
> is correct (they're really lists of vectors of seconds,
> hours, and so forth), but other methods disguise them as
> flat vectors, giving superficially surprising behaviour:
> 
>   strings <- paste('2009-1-', 1:31, sep='')
>   dates <- strptime(strings, format="%Y-%m-%d")
> 
>   print(dates)
>   #  [1] "2009-01-01" "2009-01-02" "2009-01-03" "2009-01-04" "2009-01-05"
>   #  [6] "2009-01-06" "2009-01-07" "2009-01-08" "2009-01-09" "2009-01-10"
>   # [11] "2009-01-11" "2009-01-12" "2009-01-13" "2009-01-14" "2009-01-15"
>   # [16] "2009-01-16" "2009-01-17" "2009-01-18" "2009-01-19" "2009-01-20"
>   # [21] "2009-01-21" "2009-01-22" "2009-01-23" "2009-01-24" "2009-01-25"
>   # [26] "2009-01-26" "2009-01-27" "2009-01-28" "2009-01-29" "2009-01-30"
>   # [31] "2009-01-31"
> 
>   print(length(dates))
>   # [1] 9
>   
>   str(dates)
>   # POSIXlt[1:9], format: "2009-01-01" "2009-01-02" "2009-01-03" "2009-01-04" ...
> 
>   print(dates[20])
>   # [1] "2009-01-20"
> 
>   print(length(dates[20]))
>   # [1] 9
> 
> I've since realised that POSIXct makes date vectors easier,
> but could we also have something like:
> 
>   length.POSIXlt <- function(x) { length(x$sec) }
> 
> in datetime.R, to avoid breaking functions (like the
> str.POSIXt method) which use length() in this way?


[You need "wishlist" in the title for this sort of stuff.]

I'd be wary of this. Just the other day we found that identical() broke 
on some objects because a package had length() redefined as a class 
method. I.e. the danger is that something wants to use length() with its 
original low-level interpretation.


> Thanks,
> Mark <><
> 
> ------
> 
> Version:
>  platform = i686-pc-linux-gnu
>  arch = i686
>  os = linux-gnu
>  system = i686, linux-gnu
>  status = 
>  major = 2
>  minor = 10.0
>  year = 2009
>  month = 10
>  day = 26
>  svn rev = 50208
>  language = R
>  version.string = R version 2.10.0 (2009-10-26)
> 
> Locale:
> C
> 
> Search Path:
>  .GlobalEnv, package:stats, package:graphics, package:grDevices, package:utils, package:datasets, package:methods, Autoloads, package:base
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


-- 
    O__  ---- Peter Dalgaard             Øster Farimagsgade 5, Entr.B
   c/ /'_ --- Dept. of Biostatistics     PO Box 2099, 1014 Cph. K
  (*) \(*) -- University of Copenhagen   Denmark      Ph:  (+45) 35327918
~~~~~~~~~~ - (p.dalgaard at biostat.ku.dk)              FAX: (+45) 35327907