show — Display Characteristics
show takes a single argument and returns a brief description
of the argument, containing its class, name, and any other pertinent
characteristics.
All the information provided by show() can be obtained by other
means, such as direct member reference or class and type
functions.
The information returned varies according to the argument. For
scalars, strings and matricies, the result is of the same form. It is
a five element string row vector with these elements:
name this is the name of the argument, or NULL if
the argument is unamed.
class this is num for scalars and numeric
matricies, and string for strings and string matricies.
type this is real or complex for scalars and numeric
matricies, and blank for strings and string matricies.
nr this is 1 for scalars and strings, and the
number of rows if the argument is a matrix.
nc this is 1 for scalars and strings, and the
number of columns if the argument is a matrix.
For a list, there are three strings in the row vector, consisting of:
name the name of the list, or NULL if the list is
unnamed.
class this is always list.
n this is the number of elements in the list.
There are also three elements to the result of this function with a
function argument. They are:
name the name of the function.
class this is always function.
type this is user for user defined functions, and
builtin for built in functions.
Subsections