R devel - Dec 2009 - switch() called with just the EXPR argument causes R to hang (PR#14124)

Dear all,

switch() called with just the EXPR argument causes R to hang so that the
only way to stop it is to kill R.

Reproducible example:
> switch(EXPR="a")
the internal C subroutine behind switch is do_switch located in
R/src/main/builtin.c
For convenience I reproduce it below.

*****************************************************************************
SEXP attribute_hidden do_switch(SEXP call, SEXP op, SEXP args, SEXP rho)
{
    int argval;
    SEXP x, y, w;
    x = eval(CAR(args), rho);
    if (!isVector(x) || length(x) != 1)
    error(_("switch: EXPR must return a length 1 vector"));
    PROTECT(w = switchList(CDR(args), rho));
    if (isString(x)) {
    for (y = w; y != R_NilValue; y = CDR(y))
        if (TAG(y) != R_NilValue && pmatch(STRING_ELT(x, 0), TAG(y), 1))
{
        while (CAR(y) == R_MissingArg && y != R_NilValue)
            y = CDR(y);
        UNPROTECT(1);
        return (eval(CAR(y), rho));
        }
    for (y = w; y != R_NilValue; y = CDR(y))
        if (TAG(y) == R_NilValue) {
        UNPROTECT(1);
        return (eval(CAR(y), rho));
        }
    UNPROTECT(1);
    return R_NilValue;
    }
    argval = asInteger(x);
    if (argval <= 0 || argval > (length(w))) {
    UNPROTECT(1);
    return R_NilValue;
    }
    x = eval(CAR(nthcdr(w, argval - 1)), rho);
    UNPROTECT(1);
    return x;
}
**************************************************************************

I do not know C but it seems to me that do_switch expects two arguments.

regards

Simone

tested both on Windows VISTA 32 bit

platform       i386-pc-mingw32
arch           i386
os             mingw32
system         i386, mingw32
status
major          2
minor          10.0
year           2009
month          10
day            26
svn rev        50208
language       R
version.string R version 2.10.0 (2009-10-26)

and on Linux OpenSuSE 11.0 64bit
> R.version
               _
platform       x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
arch           x86_64
os             linux-gnu
system         x86_64, linux-gnu
status         Patched
major          2
minor          10.0
year           2009
month          11
day            19
svn rev        50499
language       R
version.string R version 2.10.0 Patched (2009-11-19 r50499)


-- 
______________________________________________________

Simone Giannerini
Dipartimento di Scienze Statistiche "Paolo Fortunati"
Universita' di Bologna
Via delle belle arti 41 - 40126  Bologna,  ITALY
Tel: +39 051 2098262  Fax: +39 051 232153
http://www2.stat.unibo.it/giannerini/
______________________________________________________

	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

>>>>> "SG" == Simone Giannerini <sgiannerini at
gmail.com>
>>>>>     on Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:30:10 +0100 (CET) writes:
    SG> Dear all, switch() called with just the EXPR argument
    SG> causes R to hang so that the only way to stop it is to
    SG> kill R.

    SG> Reproducible example:

    >> switch(EXPR="a")

    SG> the internal C subroutine behind switch is do_switch
    SG> located in R/src/main/builtin.c For convenience I
    SG> reproduce it below.

    [..........]

    SG> I do not know C but it seems to me that do_switch
    SG> expects two arguments.

One can argue that it should return  NULL  when it has no
further arguments.

A fix is very simple and I'll commit it (after testing)
for R-devel and "R 2.10.1 RC".

Martin Maechler, ETH ZUrich

    SG> regards
    SG> Simone

    SG> tested both on Windows VISTA 32 bit

    SG> platform i386-pc-mingw32 arch i386 os mingw32 system
    SG> i386, mingw32 status major 2 minor 10.0 year 2009 month
    SG> 10 day 26 svn rev 50208 language R version.string R
    SG> version 2.10.0 (2009-10-26)

    SG> and on Linux OpenSuSE 11.0 64bit

    >> R.version
    SG>                _ platform x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu arch
    SG> x86_64 os linux-gnu system x86_64, linux-gnu status
    SG> Patched major 2 minor 10.0 year 2009 month 11 day 19 svn
    SG> rev 50499 language R version.string R version 2.10.0
    SG> Patched (2009-11-19 r50499)


    SG> --
    SG> ______________________________________________________

    SG> Simone Giannerini Dipartimento di Scienze Statistiche
    SG> "Paolo Fortunati" Universita' di Bologna Via delle
belle
    SG> arti 41 - 40126 Bologna, ITALY Tel: +39 051 2098262 Fax:
    SG> +39 051 232153 http://www2.stat.unibo.it/giannerini/
    SG> ______________________________________________________

    SG> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

    SG> ______________________________________________
    SG> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
    SG> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel