R: Retrieve the udunits name or symbol from the database for a...

ud.get.name {udunits2} | R Documentation

## Retrieve the udunits name or symbol from the database for a given units string

### Description

Retrieve the udunits name or symbol from the database for a given units string.

### Usage

    ud.get.name(unit.string)

### Arguments

`unit.string` | A character string which is parseable into a udunits compatible unit.

### Details

This function retrieves the udunits name or symbol from the udunits database and returns it. It uses the udunits functions ut_get_name and ut_get_symbol respectively.

### Value

Returns a character string stating the udunits's name/symbol for the given unit, or an empty character string if the unit does not map to a name/symbol for the default character set. If the unit is unparseable, the function raises an error.

### Note

More often than not units do not have names or symbols that are returned by the base functions. This depends entirely on what is defined in the units data base, which is–as of API version 2–an XML database which ships with the library. See Unidata's website for more information about the XML database: http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/udunits/udunits-2-units.html. All in all, don't put too much stock in them, for they are for convenience only. If your application requires certain names and symbols to be present, the XML database is local and editable.

### Author(s)

James Hiebert hiebert@uvic.ca

### References

Unidata's udunits reference: http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/udunits/ API guide for ut_get_name: http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/udunits/udunits-2.1.24/udunits2lib.html#index-ut_005fget_005fname-66 API guide for ut_get_symbol: http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/udunits/udunits-2.1.24/udunits2lib.html#index-ut_005fget_005fsymbol-67

### Examples

    units.to.display <- c("celsius", # has no name, messed up symbol (maybe a bug in R?)
                          "kg",
                          "hr",      # has no symbol
                          "K",
                          "degrees",
                          "m",
                          "ohm")

    for (u in units.to.display) {
      print(ud.get.name(u))
      print(ud.get.symbol(u))
    }

[Package udunits2 version 0.13 Index]