[R] get() versus getAnywhere()

[Duncan Murdoch]

Benjamin Tyner wrote:
> Many thanks Duncan. Perhaps this merits a more explicit note in the 
> documentation?
>   

The quote I gave is from the documentation.  How could it be more explicit?

Duncan Murdoch
> Duncan Murdoch wrote:
>   
>> On 4/16/2009 9:52 AM, Benjamin Tyner wrote:
>>     
>>> Hi
>>>
>>> Using R 2.8.1. I have list object called "AuxData". Inside a browser(),
>>>
>>>    get("AuxData")
>>>
>>> succeeds, while
>>>
>>>    getAnywhere("AuxData")
>>>
>>> fails with the error "no object named âAuxDataâ was found". I'm
>>> curious to know if this could be a bug. If yes, I'll try to come up
>>> with a reproducible example.
>>>       
>> It's not a bug.  getAnywhere doesn't really mean "anywhere", it means 
>> "visible on the search path, registered as an S3 method or in a name 
>> space but not exported."  On the other hand, the browser will show you 
>> the local evaluation frame.  So I'd expect the browser to be able to 
>> see x below, but getAnywhere wouldn't find it, because it's not in one 
>> of the places listed above.
>>
>> f <- function(x) {
>>   browser()
>>   getAnywhere("x")
>> }
>>
>> f(1)
>>     
>
>
>