[Rd] No error when assigning values to an "empty" vector/matrix/array

[S Ellison]

> > Also note that these warnings or errors are complaining that the
> > number of items to replace (left length) is not a multiple of
> > replacement length (right length). This suggests that when the left
> > length is a multiple of the right length, everything is fine.
> > And this is actually the case when the left length is 0. Because
> > 0 is a multiple of anything. So in that case, the right value is
> > truncated to length 0 and no warning is issued. Makes sense to me.
> 
> Thanks Hervé, you gave the perfect explanation/rationale for this being
> consistent.

This explains why a check for exact multiple of replacement length does not trigger a warning, but surely that is not sensible in the length 0 case. In all other cases, this check warns when there will be truncation of the replacement, and that seems to me the sensible intent of the check. A silent truncation to nothing is surely not the intended behaviour.
I can't help feeling that the 'check for multiple of length' was a neat portmanteau check for several possible problems when recycling is allowed, but that the possibility of assigning to a length 0 object was not considered.

I'd suggest logging it as an issue to for R-core to at least look at and either to fix or to at least warn of in documentation.

S Ellison




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