No, they are reserved names. That is explained in MASS4 and R-lang, for example. The full list (of syntactically valid names) is
FALSE Inf NA NaN NULL TRUE break else for function if in next repeat while (S also has return, T and F) Most progamming languages have reserved words, so I am surprised you are surprised. On Sun, 2 Nov 2003, Spencer Graves wrote: > Yup. R 1.8.0 gives me a syntax error from "if", also: > > > iff <- function(if)if > Error: syntax error > > spencer graves > > Thomas W Blackwell wrote: > > >Dear list - > > > >I just discovered to my surprise that I cannot define > >a function with an argument named 'break' or 'while'! > >'breaks' is okay. Maybe this is no surprise to the R > >developers. -- Brian D. Ripley, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Professor of Applied Statistics, http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/ University of Oxford, Tel: +44 1865 272861 (self) 1 South Parks Road, +44 1865 272866 (PA) Oxford OX1 3TG, UK Fax: +44 1865 272595 ______________________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list https://www.stat.math.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
