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Asked: 2026-05-25T09:38:08+00:00

In PHP we can do error_reporting(E_ALL) or error_reporting(E_ALL|E_STRICT) to have warnings about suspicious code.

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In PHP we can do error_reporting(E_ALL) or error_reporting(E_ALL|E_STRICT) to have warnings about suspicious code. In g++ you can supply -Wall (and other flags) to get more checking of your code. Is there some similar in R?

As a specific example, I was refactoring a block of code into some functions. In one of those functions I had this line:

 if(nm %in% fields$non_numeric)...

Much later I realized that I had overlooked adding fields to the parameter list, but R did not complain about an undefined variable.

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  1. Editorial Team

    Summing up, there is really no correct answer: as Owen and gsk3 point out, R functions will use globals if a variable is not in the local scope. This may be desirable in some situations, so how could the “error” be pointed out?

    checkUsage() does nothing that R’s built-in error-checking does not (in this case). checkUsageEnv(.GlobalEnv) is a useful way to check a file of helper functions (and might be great as a pre-hook for svn or git; or as part of an automated build process).

    I feel the best solution when refactoring is: at the very start to move all global code to a function (e.g. call it main()) and then the only global code would be to call that function. Do this first, then start extracting functions, etc.

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