R help - Jul 2006 - Are infix binary operators ** and ^ aliased?

Dear R-help,

After making a typo (reminiscent of FORTRAN 77, I guess) I found the
following:
>  identical(all.equal(2^(-10:10), 2**(-10:10)), TRUE)
[1] TRUE

I have tried to find the documentation about the ** operator but I was
unsuccesful this way:
>  sessionInfo()
Version 2.3.1 (2006-06-01)
powerpc-apple-darwin8.6.0

attached base packages:
[1] "methods"   "stats"     "graphics" 
"grDevices" "utils"     "datasets"
[7] "base"
>  help("**")
No documentation for '**' in specified packages and libraries:
you could try 'help.search("**")'
>  help.search("\\*\\*")
No help files found with alias or concept or title matching '\*\*'
using regular expression matching.
>  RSiteSearch("**")
A search query has been submitted to http://search.r-project.org
The results page should open in your browser shortly
# --> Too many hits

Where can I find the documentation about the ** operator?

Thanks for any hint,

Jean Lobry
-- 
Jean R. Lobry            (lobry at biomserv.univ-lyon1.fr)
Laboratoire BBE-CNRS-UMR-5558, Univ. C. Bernard - LYON I,
43 Bd 11/11/1918, F-69622 VILLEURBANNE CEDEX, FRANCE
allo  : +33 472 43 12 87     fax    : +33 472 43 13 88
http://pbil.univ-lyon1.fr/members/lobry/

It appears so.  If we define ^ for class "x" then ** seems to change
in the same way:
> "^.x" <- function(x,y) x+y
> y <- structure(3, class = "x")
> y ** 4
[1] 7
attr(,"class")
[1] "x"

On 7/12/06, Jean lobry <lobry at biomserv.univ-lyon1.fr>
wrote:
> Dear R-help,
>
> After making a typo (reminiscent of FORTRAN 77, I guess) I found the
> following:
>
> >  identical(all.equal(2^(-10:10), 2**(-10:10)), TRUE)
> [1] TRUE
>
> I have tried to find the documentation about the ** operator but I was
> unsuccesful this way:
>
> >  sessionInfo()
> Version 2.3.1 (2006-06-01)
> powerpc-apple-darwin8.6.0
>
> attached base packages:
> [1] "methods"   "stats"     "graphics" 
"grDevices" "utils"     "datasets"
> [7] "base"
> >  help("**")
> No documentation for '**' in specified packages and libraries:
> you could try 'help.search("**")'
> >  help.search("\\*\\*")
> No help files found with alias or concept or title matching '\*\*'
> using regular expression matching.
> >  RSiteSearch("**")
> A search query has been submitted to http://search.r-project.org
> The results page should open in your browser shortly
> # --> Too many hits
>
> Where can I find the documentation about the ** operator?
>
> Thanks for any hint,
>
> Jean Lobry
> --
> Jean R. Lobry            (lobry at biomserv.univ-lyon1.fr)
> Laboratoire BBE-CNRS-UMR-5558, Univ. C. Bernard - LYON I,
> 43 Bd 11/11/1918, F-69622 VILLEURBANNE CEDEX, FRANCE
> allo  : +33 472 43 12 87     fax    : +33 472 43 13 88
> http://pbil.univ-lyon1.fr/members/lobry/
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide!
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>

Jean lobry <lobry at biomserv.univ-lyon1.fr> writes:
> Dear R-help,
> 
> After making a typo (reminiscent of FORTRAN 77, I guess) I found the
> following:
> 
> >  identical(all.equal(2^(-10:10), 2**(-10:10)), TRUE)
> [1] TRUE
> 
> I have tried to find the documentation about the ** operator but I was
> unsuccesful this way:
> 
> >  sessionInfo()
> Version 2.3.1 (2006-06-01)
> powerpc-apple-darwin8.6.0
> 
> attached base packages:
> [1] "methods"   "stats"     "graphics" 
"grDevices" "utils"     "datasets"
> [7] "base"
> >  help("**")
> No documentation for '**' in specified packages and libraries:
> you could try 'help.search("**")'
> >  help.search("\\*\\*")
> No help files found with alias or concept or title matching '\*\*'
> using regular expression matching.
> >  RSiteSearch("**")
> A search query has been submitted to http://search.r-project.org
> The results page should open in your browser shortly
> # --> Too many hits
> 
> Where can I find the documentation about the ** operator?
> 
> Thanks for any hint,
It's a relic, which might be useful to have for someone, but which we
don't advertise:
> quote(3**2)
3^2


-- 
   O__  ---- Peter Dalgaard             ?ster Farimagsgade 5, Entr.B
  c/ /'_ --- Dept. of Biostatistics     PO Box 2099, 1014 Cph. K
 (*) \(*) -- University of Copenhagen   Denmark          Ph:  (+45) 35327918
~~~~~~~~~~ - (p.dalgaard at biostat.ku.dk)                  FAX: (+45) 35327907