R: Describe the structure of an object

showStructure {splus2R} | R Documentation

## Describe the structure of an object

### Description

Describe the structure of an object, recursively.

### Usage

    showStructure(x, maxlen = 20, describeAttributes = TRUE,
       short = NULL, prefix = "", attri = FALSE, ...)

### Arguments

`x` | any object
`maxlen` | integer; if `x` is a list with more than `maxlen` components, only the names are printed. This may be a vector, in which case the `K`th element is used at the `K`th level of recursion.
`describeAttributes` | logical; if `FALSE` then only the names of attributes are printed; the structure of the attributes is not shown.
`short` | `NULL` or logical; this may be used by methods, to indicate whether to print a shorter description. It is currently used by `bdFrame` and `bdVector` methods
`prefix` | for internal use in recursive calls. This is used for indenting in recursive calls.
`attri` | for internal use in recursive calls. This is `TRUE` if the curent object being described is a list of attributes.
`...` | Additional argument that may be passed to methods; not currently used.

### Details

This supports recursive objects, using recursive calls. Each level of recursion is indented two additional spaces. List components are shown with `$`, slots with `@`, and attributes with `&`.

### Value

This prints a description; it doesn't return anything useful.

### Author(s)

Tim Hesterberg

### See Also

`names`, `str`.

### Examples

    a <- c(m=1, n=2)
    b <- diag(1:3)
    cc <- cbind(a=1:5, b=2:6, c=letters[1:5])
    d <- data.frame(cc)
    attr(d, "dup.row.names") <- TRUE
    e <- ts(1:10, frequency = 4, start = c(1959, 2))
    f <- list(a,b=b)
    setClass("track", representation(x="numeric", y="numeric"))
    g <- new("track", x=1:5, y=1:5)

    showStructure(a)
    showStructure(b)
    showStructure(cc)
    showStructure(d)
    showStructure(e)
    showStructure(f)
    showStructure(g)  # prints with @ rather than $
    showStructure(list(a=a, b=b))
    showStructure(list(cc=cc, d, list(a,e)))

[Package splus2R version 1.2-2 Index]