[Rd] Problem with args

[Simon Urbanek]

On Apr 21, 2012, at 1:45 PM, Gabor Grothendieck wrote:

> On Sat, Apr 21, 2012 at 1:38 PM, Simon Urbanek
> <simon.urbanek at r-project.org> wrote:
>> 
>> On Apr 21, 2012, at 1:03 PM, Gabor Grothendieck wrote:
>> 
>>> args ought to check that its argument is a function:
>>> 
>>>> max <- 3
>>>> args(max)
>>> NULL
>>> 
>>> e.g.
>>> 
>>>> args <- function(name) {
>>> +     name <- match.fun(name)
>>> +     base::args(name)
>>> + }
>>>> args(max)
>>> function (..., na.rm = FALSE)
>>> NULL
>>> 
>> 
>> You may want to read the docs in the first place:
>> 
>> Value:
>> [...]
>> 
>>     'NULL' in case of a non-function.
>> 
> 
> My post wasn't about the return value -- it was about the fact that the function name can be masked.  Try the example I posted.  I also posted a solution.
> 

You're passing a non-function (the value of 3) so, obviously you get NULL. I think you're confusing function calls with values. What you probably intended was

> args("max")
function (..., na.rm = FALSE) 
NULL

(again, see the documentation).