[R] as.environment() does not work for "package:base"?

[Prof Brian Ripley]

On Wed, 31 Mar 2004, Philippe Grosjean wrote:

> OK. Thank you. I have not seen that particularity in the documentation... is
> it written somewhere?

Yes, the source code if nowhere else.

> However, I found:
> > .BaseNamespaceEnv
> <environment: namespace:base>
> 
> which is, according to the documentation, still experimental. Should I
> better use envir = NULL or .BaseNamespaceEnv to get a full control on
> objects in the base environment (this is for an object browser, so, I need
> full control on EVERY object in any environment), given that I will be
> careful of course with experimental stuff?

There is a difference between the package:foo and namespace:foo.  I don't 
know what you mean by `full control': you should regard namespaces as 
read-only and private.

Base is exceptional in many ways and it is the relationship of its 
namespace to everything else which is subject to change.

> 
> Best,
> 
> Philippe Grosjean
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Prof Brian Ripley [mailto:ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk]
> Sent: Tuesday, 30 March, 2004 22:28
> To: Philippe Grosjean
> Cc: r-help
> Subject: Re: [R] as.environment() does not work for "package:base"?
> 
> 
> NULL is the correct answer: as an environment base is denoted by NULL.
> Did you think to try
> 
> ls(envir=NULL)
> 
> ?  If not, do so now.
> 
> On Tue, 30 Mar 2004, Philippe Grosjean wrote:
> 
> > Hello,
> >
> > I want to retrieve one environment from the search path. I have:
> >
> > > search()
> >  [1] ".GlobalEnv"      "package:R2HTML"  "package:tcltk"
> "package:methods"
> > "package:ctest"
> >  [6] "package:mva"     "package:modreg"  "package:nls"     "package:ts"
> > "Autoloads"
> > [11] "package:base"
> > > as.environment(1)
> > <environment: R_GlobalEnv>
> > > as.environment(2)
> > <environment: package:R2HTML>
> > attr(,"name")
> > [1] "package:R2HTML"
> > attr(,"path")
> > [1] "C:/PROGRA~1/R/rw1081/library/R2HTML"
> > > as.environment(10)
> > <environment: 01749504>
> > attr(,"name")
> > [1] "Autoloads"
> > > as.environment(11)
> > NULL
> > > as.environment("package:base")
> > NULL
> >
> > So, everything works fine, except for "package:base", the 11th entry. Is
> it
> > by purpose that as.environment() returns NULL? Is it because
> "package:base"
> > is "sealed"? Then, how do I get the environment corresponding to
> > "package:base"?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Philippe Grosjean
> >
> > .......................................................<°}))><....
> >  ) ) ) ) )
> > ( ( ( ( (   Prof. Philippe Grosjean
> > \  ___   )
> >  \/ECO\ (   Numerical Ecology of Aquatic Systems
> >  /\___/  )  Mons-Hainaut University, Pentagone
> > / ___  /(   8, Av. du Champ de Mars, 7000 Mons, Belgium
> >  /NUM\/  )
> >  \___/\ (   phone: + 32.65.37.34.97, fax: + 32.65.37.33.12
> >        \ )  email: Philippe.Grosjean at umh.ac.be
> >  ) ) ) ) )  SciViews project coordinator (http://www.sciviews.org)
> > ( ( ( ( (
> > ...................................................................
> >
> > ______________________________________________
> > R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
> > https://www.stat.math.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> > PLEASE do read the posting guide!
> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> >
> >
> 
> --
> Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
> Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
> University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
> 1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
> Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595