R devel - Sep 2011 - parser does not catch strings without closing quote

Shouldn't the parser complain about unfinished strings in files?
It doesn't and will tack on a newline if there isn't one there. 

  > withOption <- function(optionList, expr) {
  +     oldOption <- options(optionList)
  +     on.exit(options(oldOption))
  +     expr
  + }

  > cat(file=tf<-tempfile(), "\"string without closing
quote\n")
  > p <- withOption(list(keep.source=FALSE), parse(tf))
  > p
  expression("string without closing quote\n")

  > cat(file=tf<-tempfile(), "\"string with no closing quote nor
newline")
  > p <- withOption(list(keep.source=FALSE), parse(tf))
  > p
  expression("string with no closing quote nor newline\n")

It does complain when parsing a character string with the same problem.
  > p <- withOption(list(keep.source=FALSE),
parse(text="\"unfinished string"))
  Error in parse(text = "\"unfinished string") :
    2:0: unexpected end of input
  1: "unfinished string
    ^

Bill Dunlap
Spotfire, TIBCO Software
wdunlap tibco.com

On 11-09-01 6:24 PM, William Dunlap wrote:
> Shouldn't the parser complain about unfinished strings in files?
> It doesn't and will tack on a newline if there isn't one there.
>
>    >  withOption<- function(optionList, expr) {
>    +     oldOption<- options(optionList)
>    +     on.exit(options(oldOption))
>    +     expr
>    + }
>
>    >  cat(file=tf<-tempfile(), "\"string without closing
quote\n")
>    >  p<- withOption(list(keep.source=FALSE), parse(tf))
>    >  p
>    expression("string without closing quote\n")
>
>    >  cat(file=tf<-tempfile(), "\"string with no closing
quote nor newline")
>    >  p<- withOption(list(keep.source=FALSE), parse(tf))
>    >  p
>    expression("string with no closing quote nor newline\n")
>
> It does complain when parsing a character string with the same problem.
>    >  p<- withOption(list(keep.source=FALSE),
parse(text="\"unfinished string"))
>    Error in parse(text = "\"unfinished string") :
>      2:0: unexpected end of input
>    1: "unfinished string
>      ^
I assume this is a bug, but the way the parser handles input is quite a 
mess, so I'm not sure where to fix this.  The obvious place (within the 
parser where it is getting tokens) does not work:  the higher level code 
breaks up input into small pieces, and the parser frequently hits the 
end of a piece (at a newline or semicolon, for example), and signals an 
incomplete parse, which is restarted.

(For others than Bill:  this is necessary because the S language doesn't 
have a clear end of statement marker.  If the parser sees "x + ", it 
tries to get more input to finish the statement.  It's only an error if 
nothing more is there.)

A possibility would be to add a new token "incomplete string", which 
will eventually trigger an error if the restart doesn't complete it.

I'll think about it...

Duncan Murdoch