it might be possible to set up a particular mode before copying the history,
### start example ### email = function(op){ if(!missing(op)) { options(op) } else { op <- options() options("prompt" = " ") options("continue" = " ") op } } op = email() a = 1:10 a email(op) a = 1:10 a ### end example ### I'm not sure how one would add # to the result lines. Best, baptiste 2009/9/19 Ted Harding <ted.hard...@manchester.ac.uk>: > On 19-Sep-09 08:48:45, johannes rara wrote: >> The R help mailing list posting guide >> >> http://www.r-project.org/posting-guide.html >> >> suggests to give an example in this form >> >> ...snip... >> f I have a matrix x as follows: >> > x <- matrix(1:8, nrow=4, ncol=2, >> dimnames=list(c("A","B","C","D"), c("x","y")) >> > x >> x y >> A 1 5 >> B 2 6 >> C 3 7 >> D 4 8 >> > >> ...snip... >> >> Would it be reasonable to consider changing this guide about this >> matter? > > Yes, I think there is a case for a change. I must have read the > above myself, once, but ignored it later for the reasons I gave > below. In any case, that citation is not in the context of advice > about "how to format R code when posting" (there is no such advice > explicitly given in the posting-guide), but in the context that it > can be helpful to provide an example: > > "Examples: Sometimes it helps to provide a small example that > someone can actually run. For example:" > > (then the example above). Possibly, people may tend to read that > example as if it were advice on formatting the code. > > So maybe the change which could be helpful in the present context > would be to follow the above example with a section which advised > on how to format the code for examples which "someone can actually > run" (they cannot "actually run" the code as given in the example). > > In other words, on the lines of > > When posting R code for examples, when this is copied from an R > console remove any command prompts ">" and continuation prompts > "+" from the code as it appears on the R console, and precede > each line of R output, messages, etc., with "#" (to make it a > "comment", so that if the code is copy-pasted from R-help into an > R console it will work as-is without the need for further editing. > Example: > [...] > > What do other people (in particular the maintainers of the posting > guide) think? > > Some might argue that the ">" and "+" prompts serve to mark the > presence of R code and distinguish it from message text. But then > the result is something that nobody "can actually run". I think, > myself, that (especially with indenting of the code by a couple > of spaces) the format I describe is clearly enough distinguished. > > Ted. > >> 2009/9/19 Ted Harding <ted.hard...@manchester.ac.uk>: >>> On 19-Sep-09 08:00:18, Cedrick W. Johnson wrote: >>>> At least in windows, if you right click directly in the r console, >>>> there's a command for 'Paste commands only' which may be one >>>> solution... >>>> Not sure about other platforms.. >>>> >>>> hth >>>> c >>> >>> It was precisely for this kind of reason that, when including >>> R code in postings to the list, I took to formatting it in the >>> following kind of way: >>> >>> _a <- 1:10 >>> _a >>> _# [1] _1 _2 _3 _4 _5 _6 _7 _8 _9 10 >>> >>> _a[1:5] >>> _# [1] 1 2 3 4 5 >>> >>> In this way, any R commands copy-pasted into R will work as-is, >>> anything else is a comment and will not interfere. I notice that >>> some other people also post their code in this way. >>> >>> I recommend it to all! If the code has been copy-pasted into the >>> email from an R console, then of course the ">" prompts will be >>> there. But then I just edit these out of the email. A bit more >>> trouble for me, but a lot less trouble for others. >>> >>> For instance, if someone had posted the above as copied from the >>> R console in its original form >>> >>>> a <- 1:10 >>>> a >>> _[1] _1 _2 _3 _4 _5 _6 _7 _8 _9 10 >>> >>>> a[1:5] >>> [1] 1 2 3 4 5 >>> >>> and I wanted to try it out, then I would either have to re-open the >>> email in "edit" mode so as to edit the email itself, or else >>> copy-paste >>> the above into a text-edit window[*] and pre-edit it there before >>> copying into R. >>> >>> [*] I would be using 'vim' in a Linux xterm. Removal of the "> " >>> prompts (or "+ " continuation prompts) from a long series of commands >>> is relatively easy: Just higlight a column-block of the first two >>> columns, then press "d" to delete them. But you would first need to >>> enter " _# " for other stuff by hand. >>> >>> Best wishes to all, >>> Ted. >>> >>>> >>>> johannes rara wrote: >>>>> Hi, >>>>> >>>>> How do you people avoid copy-pasting and manual editing of the code >>>>> posted in this list? I mean that if some one post a solution for an >>>>> answer like this: >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>> a <- 1:10 >>>>>> a >>>>>> >>>>> _[1] _1 _2 _3 _4 _5 _6 _7 _8 _9 10 >>>>> >>>>>> a[1:5] >>>>>> >>>>> [1] 1 2 3 4 5 >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> I have to copy-paste it to e.g. Tinn-R and remove "> " part of the >>>>> line to try it in my R. When you keep doing this it gets quite >>>>> annoying. How do you people avoid this (search and replace, >>>>> perhaps?). >>>>> The best way would be to able to send this straight from your e-mail >>>>> reader into R (e.g. from gmail). >>>>> >>>>> -Johannes >>> >>> -------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <ted.hard...@manchester.ac.uk> >>> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 >>> Date: 19-Sep-09 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Time: 09:33:48 >>> ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------ >>> >>> ______________________________________________ >>> R-help@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. >>> >> >> ______________________________________________ >> R-help@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. > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <ted.hard...@manchester.ac.uk> > Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 > Date: 19-Sep-09 Time: 10:46:00 > ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------ > > ______________________________________________ > R-help@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. > ______________________________________________ R-help@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.