[R] How to paste a vector of expressions and a character vector?

[David Winsemius]

On Apr 1, 2011, at 1:56 PM, Marius Hofert wrote:

> Dear David,
>
> thanks for your reply. The paste() meant to paste the vectors vec1  
> and vec2 together, so main should be a vector of length 3 of the form
> "a 1", "b 2", "c 3" # with b being tilde(b)
> However, with c() it is a vector of length 6:
> expression("a", tilde(b), "c", "1", "2", "3")

  lls <-c("a", "tilde(b)","c")
  mains <- bquote(.(parse(text=paste(lls,"~",nns,sep=""))) )
  mains

#expression(a~1, tilde(b)~2, c~3)
#attr(,"srcfile")
<text>
attr(,"wholeSrcref")
a~1
tilde(b)~2
c~3
#-----

 > mains[2]
#expression(tilde(b)~2)


plot(0,0, main=mains[2])


This would also work:

 > mains2 <- as.expression(parse(text=paste(lls,"~",nns,sep="")))
 > mains2
expression(a~1, tilde(b)~2, c~3)
attr(,"srcfile")
<text>
attr(,"wholeSrcref")
a~1
tilde(b)~2
c~3

I try to avoid using spaces in expressions and instead use "~"'s   
because I don't really understand how spaces get parsed in expression  
operations, and I do know how plotmath operations work with "~".

>
> Do you know a solution for that?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Marius
>
> On 2011-04-01, at 19:22 , David Winsemius wrote:
>
>>
>> On Apr 1, 2011, at 12:32 PM, Marius Hofert wrote:
>>
>>> Dear expeRts,
>>>
>>> I know I can't paste expressions in the normal way, but I just  
>>> couldn't figure out
>>> how to get the following (I want to paste a character vector to an  
>>> expression vector)
>>> right with bquote() or substitute.
>>>
>>> vec1 <- c("a", expression(tilde(b)), "c")
>>> vec2 <- c("1", "2", "3")
>>> main <- as.expression(paste(vec1, vec2))
>>> plot(0,0, main=main[2])
>>
>> Do not use `paste` ... it coerces your expression to a character  
>> value ... use `c` instead:
>>
>>> main <- as.expression(c(vec1, vec2))
>>> plot(1,1, main=main[2])
>>
>> And then, even the as.expression is superfluous:
>>
>>> main <- c(vec1, vec2)
>>> plot(1,1, main=main[2])
>>
>> -- 
>>
>> David Winsemius, MD
>> West Hartford, CT
>>
>

David Winsemius, MD
West Hartford, CT