R: Call finalizer

finalize {ff} | R Documentation

## Call finalizer

### Description

This calls the currently assigned finalizer, either via R's finalization mechanism or manually.

### Usage

    finalize(x, ...)
    ## S3 method for class 'ff_pointer'
    finalize(x, ...)
    ## S3 method for class 'ff'
    finalize(x, ...)
    ## S3 method for class 'ffdf'
    finalize(x, ...)

### Arguments

`x` | either an `ff` or `ffdf` object or an `ff_pointer`, see details
`...` | currently ignored

### Details

The `finalize.ff_pointer` method is called from R after it had been passed to `reg.finalizer`. It will set the finalizer name to `NULL` and call the finalizer.
The `finalize` generic can be called manually on `ff` or `ffdf` objects. It will call the finalizer but not touch the finalizer name.
For more details see `finalizer`

### Value

returns whatever the called finalizer returns, for ffdf a list with the finalization returns of each physical component is returned.

### Note

`finalize.ff_pointer` MUST NEVER be called manually - neither directly nor by calling the generic on an ff_pointer (could erroneously signal that there is no pending finalization lurking around)

### Author(s)

Jens Oehlschlägel

### See Also

`finalizer`

### Examples

      x <- ff(1:12, pattern="./finalizerdemo")
      fnam <- filename(x)
      finalizer(x)
      is.open(x)
      file.exists(fnam)

      finalize(x)

      finalizer(x)
      is.open(x)
      file.exists(fnam)

      delete(x)
      finalizer(x)
      is.open(x)
      file.exists(fnam)

      rm(x)
      gc()

[Package ff version 2.2-13 Index]