[R] create a function given a string

[John Fox]

At 01:38 PM 14/12/2000 -0800, you wrote:
>Hello,
>
>I am trying to dynamically create/define a function inside of another
>function (as part of a package.)
>
>I build a string that looks something like this: "x + y" and what I need to
>do is define a function f <- function(x,y) { x+y }.
>
>This function "string" is much more complex than this example and depends on
>other variables so there is no way to predict what the function will look
>like.
>The ultimate goal is to pass this function 'outer'
>
>I have tried many different approaches and just can't find a way to convert
>the string "x + y" to the function body x + y.
>
>Any suggestions would be appreciated.

If I follow this correctly, then you know the names of the arguments, but 
not the statement that comprises the body of the function. How about 
something like this?

f<-function(x,y) eval(parse(text="x+y"))

I hope that this helps,
  John



________________________________
  John Fox
  Department of Sociology
  McMaster University
  email: jfox at McMaster.ca
  web: www.socsci.mcmaster.ca/jfox
________________________________

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