[Rd] 'else' on new line not parsed at top level as part of preceding 'if'

[Duncan Murdoch]

BTW, this is discussed in section 3.2.1 of "The R Language Definition".

Duncan Murdoch

On 2024-12-02 10:56 a.m., Mikael Jagan wrote:
> I wonder if there is room for improvement here:
> 
>       > str2lang("if (a) b1    else b0")
>       if (a) b1 else b0
>       > str2lang("if (a) b1 \n else b0")
>       Error in str2lang("if (a) b1 \n else b0") : <text>:2:2: unexpected 'else'
>       1: if (a) b1
>       2:  else
>           ^
> 
> It only occurs at top level.  When the parser knows that it needs to
> "keep reading", e.g., because the call to 'if' is enclosed in braces,
> it detects the 'else':
> 
>       > str2lang("{ if (a) b1    else b0 }")
>       {
>           if (a)
>               b1
>           else b0
>       }
>       > str2lang("{ if (a) b1 \n else b0 }")
>       {
>           if (a)
>               b1
>           else b0
>       }
> 
> If people agree that the above is a deficiency/bug then I could create a
> formal bug report.  Then others or I could start thinking about a patch
> for the parser.
> 
> Apologies if this issue has been seen and discussed before (most likely
> by people like me in the habit of dropping braces in calls to 'if' where
> not strictly necessary).
> 
> Mikael
> 
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