base (version 3.3)

force: Force Evaluation of an Argument

Description

Forces the evaluation of a function argument.

Usage

force(x)

Arguments

x

a formal argument of the enclosing function.

Details

force forces the evaluation of a formal argument. This can be useful if the argument will be captured in a closure by the lexical scoping rules and will later be altered by an explicit assignment or an implicit assignment in a loop or an apply function.

Examples

f <- function(y) function() y
lf <- vector("list", 5)
for (i in seq_along(lf)) lf[[i]] <- f(i)
lf[[1]]()  # returns 5

g <- function(y) { force(y); function() y }
lg <- vector("list", 5)
for (i in seq_along(lg)) lg[[i]] <- g(i)
lg[[1]]()  # returns 1

## This is identical to
g <- function(y) { y; function() y }