[R] Construct a function with argments specified by an R expression

Rolf Turner
Sat, 25 Oct 2025 02:23:26 -0000

I want to build a function (say "buildFn") to *return* a function of
the
form

    foo(x,y,a1, ... an, b1, ..., bn)

where the arguments ai and bi are given in the form of a list created
in R.  E.g. I'd like to be able to say

     argnms <- c(paste0("a",1:3),paste0("b",1:3"))
     foo <- buildFn(argnms)

with the resulting "foo" having arguments x, y, a1, a2, a3, b1, b2,
b3.

I thought I might be able to do this using "formals<-" but I cannot
get
this to work.  i could provide more detail of what I've tried, but it's
probably not worth it.

Can anyone steer me in the right direction?  Thanks.

cheers,

Rolf Turner

--
Honorary Research Fellow
Department of Statistics
University of Auckland
Stats. Dep't. (secretaries) phone:
         +64-9-373-7599 ext. 89622
Home phone: +64-9-480-4619