Dear R-Helpers, I suspect I'm about to ask a FAQ, but I haven't been able to find an answer in the FAQ, AItR or an R Site Search. When I look at the methods of summary (below) it says, "Non-visible functions are asterisked". I looked at the help file for summary.princomp, which did not comment on it being non-visible. I ran its help file example, which printed visible output. I did not notice how it differed from other functions, like summary.data.frame that is not marked non-invisible. What does the non-visible mean? Thanks, Bob> methods(summary)[1] summary.aov summary.aovlist [3] summary.connection summary.data.frame [5] summary.Date summary.default [7] summary.ecdf* summary.factor [9] summary.glm summary.infl [11] summary.lm summary.loess* [13] summary.manova summary.matrix [15] summary.mlm summary.nls* [17] summary.packageStatus* summary.POSIXct [19] summary.POSIXlt summary.ppr* [21] summary.prcomp* summary.princomp* [23] summary.stepfun summary.stl* [25] summary.table summary.tukeysmooth* Non-visible functions are asterisked ========================================================Bob Muenchen (pronounced Min'-chen), Manager, Statistical Consulting Center U of TN Office of Information Technology Stokely Management Center, Suite 200 916 Volunteer Blvd., Knoxville, TN 37996-0520 Voice: (865) 974-5230 FAX: (865) 974-4810 Email: muenchen at utk.edu Web: http://oit.utk.edu/scc Map: http://www.utk.edu/maps News: http://listserv.utk.edu/archives/statnews.html =========================================================
On 08/03/2008 10:48 AM, Muenchen, Robert A (Bob) wrote:> Dear R-Helpers, > > I suspect I'm about to ask a FAQ, but I haven't been able to find an > answer in the FAQ, AItR or an R Site Search. When I look at the methods > of summary (below) it says, "Non-visible functions are asterisked". I > looked at the help file for summary.princomp, which did not comment on > it being non-visible. I ran its help file example, which printed visible > output. I did not notice how it differed from other functions, like > summary.data.frame that is not marked non-invisible. What does the > non-visible mean? > > Thanks, > Bob > >> methods(summary) > [1] summary.aov summary.aovlist > [3] summary.connection summary.data.frame > [5] summary.Date summary.default > [7] summary.ecdf* summary.factor > [9] summary.glm summary.infl > [11] summary.lm summary.loess* > [13] summary.manova summary.matrix > [15] summary.mlm summary.nls* > [17] summary.packageStatus* summary.POSIXct > [19] summary.POSIXlt summary.ppr* > [21] summary.prcomp* summary.princomp* > [23] summary.stepfun summary.stl* > [25] summary.table summary.tukeysmooth* > > Non-visible functions are asteriskedTry this: > summary.princomp Error: object "summary.princomp" not found > summary.data.frame function (object, maxsum = 7, digits = max(3, getOption("digits") - 3), ...) { etc. R can find summary.princomp when it runs UseMethod, but it's hidden in the stats namespace, so you need to use "stats:::summary.princomp" to see it. Duncan Murdoch
It means that the package has not exported it so normally you would not access it directly. For example, for summary.princomp you would normally pass a princomp object to the summary generic. If you did want to access summary.princomp directly, since it has not been exported, you can use the form stats:::summary.princomp as just summary.princomp won't work. Normally this would not be desirable, though. On Sat, Mar 8, 2008 at 10:48 AM, Muenchen, Robert A (Bob) <muenchen at utk.edu> wrote:> Dear R-Helpers, > > I suspect I'm about to ask a FAQ, but I haven't been able to find an > answer in the FAQ, AItR or an R Site Search. When I look at the methods > of summary (below) it says, "Non-visible functions are asterisked". I > looked at the help file for summary.princomp, which did not comment on > it being non-visible. I ran its help file example, which printed visible > output. I did not notice how it differed from other functions, like > summary.data.frame that is not marked non-invisible. What does the > non-visible mean? > > Thanks, > Bob > > > methods(summary) > [1] summary.aov summary.aovlist > [3] summary.connection summary.data.frame > [5] summary.Date summary.default > [7] summary.ecdf* summary.factor > [9] summary.glm summary.infl > [11] summary.lm summary.loess* > [13] summary.manova summary.matrix > [15] summary.mlm summary.nls* > [17] summary.packageStatus* summary.POSIXct > [19] summary.POSIXlt summary.ppr* > [21] summary.prcomp* summary.princomp* > [23] summary.stepfun summary.stl* > [25] summary.table summary.tukeysmooth* > > Non-visible functions are asterisked > > ========================================================> Bob Muenchen (pronounced Min'-chen), > Manager, Statistical Consulting Center > U of TN Office of Information Technology > Stokely Management Center, Suite 200 > 916 Volunteer Blvd., Knoxville, TN 37996-0520 > Voice: (865) 974-5230 > FAX: (865) 974-4810 > Email: muenchen at utk.edu > Web: http://oit.utk.edu/scc > Map: http://www.utk.edu/maps > News: http://listserv.utk.edu/archives/statnews.html > ========================================================> > ______________________________________________ > R-help at r-project.org mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. >
G'day Bob, On Sat, 8 Mar 2008 10:48:49 -0500 "Muenchen, Robert A (Bob)" <muenchen at utk.edu> wrote:> What does the non-visible mean?Type at the command line> summary.aovand hit return. Note, leave out the `()'. Now type at the command line> summary.princompThat should illustrate what non-visible means. Next you might want to `?getAnywhere'.> [...] Muenchen (pronounced Min'-chen),Actually, that's not how Muenchen is pronounced. :) HTH. Cheers, Berwin =========================== Full address ============================Berwin A Turlach Tel.: +65 6516 4416 (secr) Dept of Statistics and Applied Probability +65 6516 6650 (self) Faculty of Science FAX : +65 6872 3919 National University of Singapore 6 Science Drive 2, Blk S16, Level 7 e-mail: statba at nus.edu.sg Singapore 117546 http://www.stat.nus.edu.sg/~statba
short answer: non-visible means that they are not exported from a package with a namespace so that they are "not found" if you just type the name. However, you can see these functions if you use getAnywhere(fname) longer answer: see the section on namespaces in the writing R extensions manual. On Mar 8, 2008, at 9:48 AM, Muenchen, Robert A (Bob) wrote:> Dear R-Helpers, > > I suspect I'm about to ask a FAQ, but I haven't been able to find an > answer in the FAQ, AItR or an R Site Search. When I look at the > methods > of summary (below) it says, "Non-visible functions are asterisked". I > looked at the help file for summary.princomp, which did not comment on > it being non-visible. I ran its help file example, which printed > visible > output. I did not notice how it differed from other functions, like > summary.data.frame that is not marked non-invisible. What does the > non-visible mean? > > Thanks, > Bob > >> methods(summary) > [1] summary.aov summary.aovlist > [3] summary.connection summary.data.frame > [5] summary.Date summary.default > [7] summary.ecdf* summary.factor > [9] summary.glm summary.infl > [11] summary.lm summary.loess* > [13] summary.manova summary.matrix > [15] summary.mlm summary.nls* > [17] summary.packageStatus* summary.POSIXct > [19] summary.POSIXlt summary.ppr* > [21] summary.prcomp* summary.princomp* > [23] summary.stepfun summary.stl* > [25] summary.table summary.tukeysmooth* > > Non-visible functions are asterisked > > ========================================================> Bob Muenchen (pronounced Min'-chen), > Manager, Statistical Consulting Center > U of TN Office of Information Technology > Stokely Management Center, Suite 200 > 916 Volunteer Blvd., Knoxville, TN 37996-0520 > Voice: (865) 974-5230 > FAX: (865) 974-4810 > Email: muenchen at utk.edu > Web: http://oit.utk.edu/scc > Map: http://www.utk.edu/maps > News: http://listserv.utk.edu/archives/statnews.html > ========================================================> > ______________________________________________ > R-help at r-project.org mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Thank you all very much! Bob> -----Original Message----- > From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-help-bounces at r- > project.org] On Behalf Of Muenchen, Robert A (Bob) > Sent: Saturday, March 08, 2008 10:49 AM > To: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch > Subject: [R] Non-visible functions are asterisked > > Dear R-Helpers, > > I suspect I'm about to ask a FAQ, but I haven't been able to find an > answer in the FAQ, AItR or an R Site Search. When I look at themethods> of summary (below) it says, "Non-visible functions are asterisked". I > looked at the help file for summary.princomp, which did not comment on > it being non-visible. I ran its help file example, which printed > visible > output. I did not notice how it differed from other functions, like > summary.data.frame that is not marked non-invisible. What does the > non-visible mean? > > Thanks, > Bob > > > methods(summary) > [1] summary.aov summary.aovlist > [3] summary.connection summary.data.frame > [5] summary.Date summary.default > [7] summary.ecdf* summary.factor > [9] summary.glm summary.infl > [11] summary.lm summary.loess* > [13] summary.manova summary.matrix > [15] summary.mlm summary.nls* > [17] summary.packageStatus* summary.POSIXct > [19] summary.POSIXlt summary.ppr* > [21] summary.prcomp* summary.princomp* > [23] summary.stepfun summary.stl* > [25] summary.table summary.tukeysmooth* > > Non-visible functions are asterisked > > ========================================================> Bob Muenchen (pronounced Min'-chen), > Manager, Statistical Consulting Center > U of TN Office of Information Technology > Stokely Management Center, Suite 200 > 916 Volunteer Blvd., Knoxville, TN 37996-0520 > Voice: (865) 974-5230 > FAX: (865) 974-4810 > Email: muenchen at utk.edu > Web: http://oit.utk.edu/scc > Map: http://www.utk.edu/maps > News: http://listserv.utk.edu/archives/statnews.html > ========================================================> > ______________________________________________ > R-help at r-project.org mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting- > guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.