[Rd] Baffled with as.matrix
Brian Diggs
diggsb at ohsu.edu
Fri Nov 30 19:08:38 CET 2012
On 11/30/2012 4:53 AM, Terry Therneau wrote:
> I'm puzzled by as.matrix. It appears to work differently for Surv objects.
> Here is a session from my computer:
>
> tmt% R --vanilla
> > library(survival)
> Loading required package: splines
> > ytest <- Surv(1:3, c(1,0,1))
> > is.matrix(ytest)
> >[1] TRUE
It seems that survival:::as.matrix.Surv is not recognized as a
dispatch-able method for as.matrix:
> methods("as.matrix")
[1] as.matrix.data.frame as.matrix.default as.matrix.dist*
[4] as.matrix.noquote as.matrix.POSIXlt as.matrix.raster*
[7] as.matrix.ratetable*
I'm guessing it is not declared as such in the NAMESPACE file.
> > attr(ytest, 'type')
> [1] "right"
> > attr(as.matrix(ytest), 'type')
> [1] "right"
> >
> > y2 <- ytest
> > class(y2) <- "charlie"
> > as.matrix.charlie <- survival:::as.matrix.Surv
This new function does show up:
> methods("as.matrix")
[1] as.matrix.charlie as.matrix.data.frame as.matrix.default
[4] as.matrix.dist* as.matrix.noquote as.matrix.POSIXlt
[7] as.matrix.raster* as.matrix.ratetable*
and is being called as expected.
> > attr(y2, 'type')
> [1] "right"
> > attr(as.matrix(y2), 'type')
> NULL
>
> > survival:::as.matrix.Surv
> function (x)
> {
> y <- unclass(x)
> attr(y, "type") <- NULL
> y
> }
> <bytecode: 0x91c1610>
> <environment: namespace:survival>
What is being called by as.matrix(ytest) is as.matrix.default
> as.matrix.default
function (x, ...)
{
if (is.matrix(x))
x
else array(x, c(length(x), 1L), if (!is.null(names(x)))
list(names(x), NULL)
else NULL)
}
<bytecode: 0x000000000631a0b8>
<environment: namespace:base>
which will just return ytest is is.matrix(ytest) is TRUE (as you show).
> --------
> It appears that Surv objects are being processed by as.matrix.default,
> but "charlie" objects by the
> actual method. One more verification:
>
> > attr(survival:::as.matrix.Surv(ytest), 'type')
> NULL
> > attr(as.matrix.default(y2), 'type')
> [1] "right"
Correct.
> Context: In testing the next survival release (2.37), it has lost this
> "special" behavior. One package that depends on survival expects this
> behavior and thus fails. I'm at a loss to figure out how my package got
> this attribute in the first place, or how it lost it. Can anyone shed
> light?
The behavior I showed above was with 2.36-14, even.
In your NAMESPACE file, there are two lines that say
S3method(as.matrix, ratetable)
I bet one of them was meant to be
S3method(as.matrix, Surv)
> Terry Therneau
>
> PS I'm on vacation for the next few days so will be intermittent with
> email. (Off to see my first grandchild!)
>
> ---------------------
>
> > sessionInfo()
> R version 2.15.2 (2012-10-26)
> Platform: i686-pc-linux-gnu (32-bit)
>
> locale:
> [1] LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 LC_NUMERIC=C
> [3] LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8 LC_COLLATE=C
> [5] LC_MONETARY=en_US.UTF-8 LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8
> [7] LC_PAPER=C LC_NAME=C
> [9] LC_ADDRESS=C LC_TELEPHONE=C
> [11] LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.UTF-8 LC_IDENTIFICATION=C
>
> attached base packages:
> [1] splines stats graphics grDevices utils datasets methods
> [8] base
>
> other attached packages:
> [1] survival_2.36-14
>
--
Brian S. Diggs, PhD
Senior Research Associate, Department of Surgery
Oregon Health & Science University
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