Re: Stupid question on if ... else ...

[Spencer Graves <spencer.graves@PDF.COM>]

	  Have you tried enclosing the entire "if ... else" construction in 
parentheses:
(if (length(2) == 1) {
        tmp = 1
}
else {
        tmp = 2
})

          Note that the following phrase is syntactically complete in itself:

if (length(2) == 1) {
        tmp = 1
}

	  If this gets evaluated by itself before the "else" is encountered, I 
get an error message.  By enclosing the entire "if ... else" 
construction in parentheses, the processor knows that the phrase in not 
syntactically complete before "else" is encountered.  I'm pretty sure I 
saw this in a book by Venables and Ripley, but I can't find the 
reference right now.
hope this helps.  spencer graves

Jeffrey Wang wrote:
>         For all my life, I used if ... else ... in the following syntax:
>
> if (length(2) == 1) {
>         tmp = 1
> } 
> else {
>         tmp = 2
> }
>
>         However recently, this stopped working for me if this is sourced in as 
> a part of file (it still works if I run it from the script window). I had to 
> change it as follows in my file:
>
> if (length(2) == 1) {
>         tmp = 1
> } else {
>         tmp = 2
> }
>
>         Can someone explain this to me what might be the cause? Thanks for any 
> hints in advance.
>
> P.S. I am using S+ 6.1 release 1 on Windows 2000 if it helps.
>
> ----
> Jeffrey Wang 
> Ronin Capital LLC
> Chicago, IL 60604
> Tel: (312) 244-5768
> Fax: (312) 244-5836
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> This message was distributed by s-news@lists.biostat.wustl.edu.  To
> unsubscribe send e-mail to s-news-request@lists.biostat.wustl.edu with
> the BODY of the message:  unsubscribe s-news