r-cran-rlang 0.2.0-1 / usr / lib / R / site-library / rlang / NEWS.md

# rlang 0.2.0

This release of rlang is mostly an effort at polishing the tidy
evaluation framework. All tidy eval functions and operators have been
rewritten in C in order to improve performance. Capture of expression,
quasiquotation, and evaluation of quosures are now vastly faster. On
the UI side, many of the inconveniences that affected the first
release of rlang have been solved:

* The `!!` operator now has the precedence of unary `+` and `-` which
  allows a much more natural syntax: `!!a > b` only unquotes `a`
  rather than the whole `a > b` expression.

* `enquo()` works in magrittr pipes: `mtcars %>% select(!!enquo(var))`.

* `enquos()` is a variant of `quos()` that has a more natural
  interface for capturing multiple arguments and `...`.

See the first section below for a complete list of changes to the tidy
evaluation framework.

This release also polishes the rlang API. Many functions have been
renamed as we get a better feel for the consistency and clarity of the
API. Note that rlang as a whole is still maturing and some functions
are even experimental. In order to make things clearer for users of
rlang, we have started to develop a set of conventions to document the
current stability of each function. You will now find "lifecycle"
sections in documentation topics. In addition we have gathered all
lifecycle information in the `?rlang::lifecycle` help page. Please
only use functions marked as stable in your projects unless you are
prepared to deal with occasional backward incompatible updates.


## Tidy evaluation

* The backend for `quos()`, `exprs()`, `list2()`, `dots_list()`, etc
  is now written in C. This greatly improve the performance of dots
  capture, especially with the splicing operator `!!!` which now
  scales much better (you'll see a 1000x performance gain in some
  cases). The unquoting algorithm has also been improved which makes
  `enexpr()` and `enquo()` more efficient as well.

* The tidy eval `!!` operator now binds tightly. You no longer have to
  wrap it in parentheses, i.e. `!!x > y` will only unquote `x`.

  Technically the `!!` operator has the same precedence as unary `-`
  and `+`. This means that `!!a:b` and `!!a + b` are equivalent to
  `(!!a):b` and `(!!a) + b`. On the other hand `!!a^b` and `!!a$b` are
  equivalent to`!!(a^b)` and `!!(a$b)`.

* The print method for quosures has been greatly improved. Quosures no
  longer appear as formulas but as expressions prefixed with `^`;
  quosures are colourised according to their environment; unquoted
  objects are displayed between angular brackets instead of code
  (i.e. an unquoted integer vector is shown as `<int: 1, 2>` rather
  than `1:2`); unquoted S3 objects are displayed using
  `pillar::type_sum()` if available.

* New `enquos()` function to capture arguments. It treats `...` the
  same way as `quos()` but can also capture named arguments just like
  `enquo()`, i.e. one level up. By comparison `quos(arg)` only
  captures the name `arg` rather than the expression supplied to the
  `arg` argument.

  In addition, `enexprs()` is like `enquos()` but like `exprs()` it
  returns bare expressions. And `ensyms()` expects strings or symbols.

* It is now possible to use `enquo()` within a magrittr pipe:

  ```
  select_one <- function(df, var) {
    df %>% dplyr::select(!!enquo(var))
  }
  ```

  Technically, this is because `enquo()` now also captures arguments
  in parents of the current environment rather than just in the
  current environment. The flip side of this increased flexibility is
  that if you made a typo in the name of the variable you want to
  capture, and if an object of that name exists anywhere in the parent
  contexts, you will capture that object rather than getting an error.

* `quo_expr()` has been renamed to `quo_squash()` in order to better
  reflect that it is a lossy operation that flattens all nested
  quosures.


* `!!!` now accepts any kind of objects for consistency. Scalar types
  are treated as vectors of length 1. Previously only symbolic objects
  like symbols and calls were treated as such.

* `ensym()` is a new variant of `enexpr()` that expects a symbol or a
  string and always returns a symbol. If a complex expression is
  supplied it fails with an error.

* `exprs()` and `quos()` gain a `.unquote_names` arguments to switch
  off interpretation of `:=` as a name operator. This should be useful
  for programming on the language targetting APIs such as
  data.table.

* `exprs()` gains a `.named` option to auto-label its arguments (#267).

* Functions taking dots by value rather than by expression
  (e.g. regular functions, not quoting functions) have a more
  restricted set of unquoting operations. They only support `:=` and
  `!!!`, and only at top-level. I.e. `dots_list(!!! x)` is valid but
  not `dots_list(nested_call(!!! x))` (#217).

* Functions taking dots with `list2()` or `dots_list()` now support
  splicing of `NULL` values. `!!! NULL` is equivalent to `!!! list()`
  (#242).

* Capture operators now support evaluated arguments. Capturing a
  forced or evaluated argument is exactly the same as unquoting that
  argument: the actual object (even if a vector) is inlined in the
  expression. Capturing a forced argument occurs when you use
  `enquo()`, `enexpr()`, etc too late. It also happens when your
  quoting function is supplied to `lapply()` or when you try to quote
  the first argument of an S3 method (which is necessarily evaluated
  in order to detect which class to dispatch to). (#295, #300).

* Parentheses around `!!` are automatically removed. This makes the
  generated expression call cleaner: `(!! sym("name"))(arg)`. Note
  that removing the parentheses will never affect the actual
  precedence within the expression as the parentheses are only useful
  when parsing code as text. The parentheses will also be added by R
  when printing code if needed (#296).

* Quasiquotation now supports `!!` and `!!!` as functional forms:

  ```
  expr(`!!`(var))
  quo(call(`!!!`(var)))
  ```

  This is consistent with the way native R operators parses to
  function calls. These new functional forms are to be preferred to
  `UQ()` and `UQS()`. We are now questioning the latter and might
  deprecate them in a future release.

* The quasiquotation parser now gives meaningful errors in corner
  cases to help you figure out what is wrong.

* New getters and setters for quosures: `quo_get_expr()`,
  `quo_get_env()`, `quo_set_expr()`, and `quo_set_env()`. Compared to
  `get_expr()` etc, these accessors only work on quosures and are
  slightly more efficient.

* `quo_is_symbol()` and `quo_is_call()` now take the same set of
  arguments as `is_symbol()` and `is_call()`.

* `enquo()` and `enexpr()` now deal with default values correctly (#201).

* Splicing a list no longer mutates it (#280).


## Conditions

* The new functions `cnd_warn()` and `cnd_inform()` transform
  conditions to warnings or messages before signalling them.

* `cnd_signal()` now returns invisibly.

* `cnd_signal()` and `cnd_abort()` now accept character vectors to
  create typed conditions with several S3 subclasses.

* `is_condition()` is now properly exported.

* Condition signallers such as `cnd_signal()` and `abort()` now accept
  a call depth as `call` arguments. This allows plucking a call from
  further up the call stack (#30).

* New helper `catch_cnd()`. This is a small wrapper around
  `tryCatch()` that captures and returns any signalled condition. It
  returns `NULL` if none was signalled.

* `cnd_abort()` now adds the correct S3 classes for error
  conditions. This fixes error catching, for instance by
  `testthat::expect_error()`.


## Environments

* `env_get_list()` retrieves muliple bindings from an environment into
  a named list.

* `with_bindings()` and `scoped_bindings()` establish temporary
  bindings in an environment.

* `is_namespace()` is a snake case wrapper around `isNamespace()`.


## Various features

* New functions `inherits_any()`, `inherits_all()`, and
  `inherits_only()`. They allow testing for inheritance from multiple
  classes. The `_any` variant is equivalent to `base::inherits()` but
  is more explicit about its behaviour. `inherits_all()` checks that
  all classes are present in order and `inherits_only()` checks that
  the class vectors are identical.

* New `fn_fmls<-` and `fn_fmls_names<-` setters.

* New function experimental function `chr_unserialise_unicode()` for
  turning characters serialised to unicode point form
  (e.g. `<U+xxxx>`) to UTF-8. In addition, `as_utf8_character()` now
  translates those as well. (@krlmlr)

* `expr_label()` now supports quoted function definition calls (#275).

* `call_modify()` and `call_standardise()` gain an argument to specify
  an environment. The call definition is looked up in that environment
  when the call to modify or standardise is not wrapped in a quosure.

* `is_symbol()` gains a `name` argument to check that that the symbol
  name matches a string (#287).

* New `rlang_box` class. Its purpose is similar to the `AsIs` class
  from `base::I()`, i.e. it protects a value temporarily. However it
  does so by wrapping the value in a scalar list. Use `new_box()` to
  create a boxed value, `is_box()` to test for a boxed value, and
  `unbox()` to unbox it. `new_box()` and `is_box()` accept optional
  subclass.

* The vector constructors such as `new_integer()`,
  `new_double_along()` etc gain a `names` argument. In the case of the
  `_along` family it defaults to the names of the input vector.


## Bugfixes

* When nested quosures are evaluated with `eval_tidy()`, the `.env`
  pronoun now correctly refers to the current quosure under evaluation
  (#174). Previously it would always refer to the environment of the
  outermost quosure.

* `as_pairlist()` (part of the experimental API) now supports `NULL`
  and objects of type pairlist (#397).

* Fixed a performance bug in `set_names()` that caused a full copy of
  the vector names (@jimhester, #366).


## API changes

The rlang API is maturing and still in flux. However we have made an
effort to better communicate what parts are stable. We will not
introduce breaking changes for stable functions unless the payoff for
the change is worth the trouble. See `?rlang::lifecycle` for the
lifecycle status of exported functions.

* The particle "lang" has been renamed to "call":

    - `lang()` has been renamed to `call2()`.
    - `new_language()` has ben renamed to `new_call()`.
    - `is_lang()` has been renamed to `is_call()`. We haven't replaced
      the `is_unary_lang()` and `is_binary_lang()` because they are
      redundant with the `n` argument of `is_call()`.
    - All call accessors such as `lang_fn()`, `lang_name()`,
      `lang_args()` etc are soft-deprecated and renamed with `call_`
      prefix.

  In rlang 0.1 calls were called "language" objects in order to follow
  the R type nomenclature as returned by `base::typeof()`. We wanted
  to avoid adding to the confusion between S modes and R types. With
  hindsight we find it is better to use more meaningful type names.

* We now use the term "data mask" instead of "overscope". We think
  data mask is a more natural name in the context of R. We say that
  that objects from user data mask objects in the current environment.
  This makes reference to object masking in the search path which is
  due to the same mechanism (in technical terms, lexical scoping with
  hierarchically nested environments).

  Following this new terminology, the new functions `as_data_mask()`
  and `new_data_mask()` replace `as_overscope()` and
  `new_overscope()`. `as_data_mask()` has also a more consistent
  interface. These functions are only meant for developers of tidy
  evaluation interfaces.

* We no longer require a data mask (previously called overscope) to be
  cleaned up after evaluation. `overscope_clean()` is thus
  soft-deprecated without replacement.


### Breaking changes

* `!!` now binds tightly in order to match intuitive parsing of tidy
  eval code, e.g. `!! x > y` is now equivalent to `(!! x) > y`.  A
  corollary of this new syntax is that you now have to be explicit
  when you want to unquote the whole expression on the right of `!!`.
  For instance you have to explicitly write `!! (x > y)` to unquote
  `x > y` rather than just `x`.

* `UQ()`, `UQS()` and `:=` now issue an error when called
  directly. The previous definitions caused surprising results when
  the operators were invoked in wrong places (i.e. not in quasiquoted
  arguments).

* The prefix form `` `!!`() `` is now an alias to `!!` rather than
  `UQE()`. This makes it more in line with regular R syntax where
  operators are parsed as regular calls, e.g. `a + b` is parsed as ``
  `+`(a, b) `` and both forms are completely equivalent. Also the
  prefix form `` `!!!`() `` is now equivalent to `!!!`.

* `UQE()` is now deprecated in order to simplify the syntax of
  quasiquotation. Please use `!! get_expr(x)` instead.

* `expr_interp()` now returns a formula instead of a quosure when
  supplied a formula.

* `is_quosureish()` and `as_quosureish()` are deprecated. These
  functions assumed that quosures are formulas but that is only an
  implementation detail.

* `new_cnd()` is now `cnd()` for consistency with other constructors.
  Also, `cnd_error()`, `cnd_warning()` and `cnd_message()` are now
  `error_cnd()`, `warning_cnd()` and `message_cnd()` to follow our
  naming scheme according to which the type of output is a suffix
  rather than a prefix.

* `is_node()` now returns `TRUE` for calls as well and `is_pairlist()`
  does not return `TRUE` for `NULL` objects. Use `is_node_list()` to
  determine whether an object either of type `pairlist` or `NULL`.
  Note that all these functions are still experimental.

* `set_names()` no longer automatically splices lists of character
  vectors as we are moving away from automatic splicing semantics.


### Upcoming breaking changes

* Calling the functional forms of unquote operators with the rlang
  namespace qualifier is soft-deprecated. `UQ()` and `UQS()` are not
  function calls so it does not make sense to namespace them.
  Supporting namespace qualifiers complicates the implementation of
  unquotation and is misleading as to the nature of unquoting (which
  are syntactic operators at quotation-time rather than function calls
  at evaluation-time).

* We are now questioning `UQ()` and `UQS()` as functional forms of
  `!!`.  If `!!` and `!!!` were native R operators, they would parse
  to the functional calls `` `!!`() `` and `` `!!!`() ``. This is now
  the preferred way to unquote with a function call rather than with
  the operators. We haven't decided yet whether we will deprecate
  `UQ()` and `UQS()` in the future. In any case we recommend using the
  new functional forms.

* `parse_quosure()` and `parse_quosures()` are soft-deprecated in
  favour of `parse_quo()` and `parse_quos()`. These new names are
  consistent with the rule that abbreviated suffixes indicate the
  return type of a function. In addition the new functions require their
  callers to explicitly supply an environment for the quosures.

* Using `f_rhs()` and `f_env()` on quosures is soft-deprecated. The
  fact that quosures are formulas is an implementation detail that
  might change in the future. Please use `quo_get_expr()` and
  `quo_get_env()` instead.

* `quo_expr()` is soft-deprecated in favour of `quo_squash()`.
  `quo_expr()` was a misnomer because it implied that it was a mere
  expression acccessor for quosures whereas it was really a lossy
  operation that squashed all nested quosures.

* With the renaming of the `lang` particle to `call`, all these
  functions are soft-deprecated: `lang()`, `is_lang()`, `lang_fn()`,
  `lang_name()`, `lang_args()`.

  In addition, `lang_head()` and `lang_tail()` are soft-deprecated
  without replacement because these are low level accessors that are
  rarely needed.

* `as_overscope()` is soft-deprecated in favour of `as_data_mask()`.

* The node setters were renamed from `mut_node_` prefix to
  `node_poke_`. This change follows a new naming convention in rlang
  where mutation is referred to as "poking".

* `splice()` is now in questioning stage as it is not needed given the
  `!!!` operator works in functions taking dots with `dots_list()`.

* `lgl_len()`, `int_len()` etc have been soft-deprecated and renamed
  with `new_` prefix, e.g. `new_logical()` and `new_integer()`. This
  is for consistency with other non-variadic object constructors.

* `ll()` is now an alias to `list2()`. This is consistent with the new
  `call2()` constructor for calls. `list2()` and `call2()` are
  versions of `list()` and `call()` that support splicing of lists
  with `!!!`. `ll()` remains around as a shorthand for users who like
  its conciseness.

* Automatic splicing of lists in vector constructors (e.g. `lgl()`,
  `chr()`, etc) is now soft-deprecated. Please be explicit with the
  splicing operator `!!!`.


# rlang 0.1.6

* This is a maintenance release in anticipation of a forthcoming
  change to R's C API (use `MARK_NOT_MUTABLE()` instead of
  `SET_NAMED()`).

* New function `is_reference()` to check whether two objects are one
  and the same.


# rlang 0.1.4

* `eval_tidy()` no longer maps over lists but returns them literally.
  This behaviour is an overlook from past refactorings and was never
  documented.


# rlang 0.1.2

This hotfix release makes rlang compatible with the R 3.1 branch.


# rlang 0.1.1

This release includes two important fixes for tidy evaluation:

* Bare formulas are now evaluated in the correct environment in
  tidyeval functions.

* `enquo()` now works properly within compiled functions. Before this
  release, constants optimised by the bytecode compiler couldn't be
  enquoted.


## New functions:

* The `new_environment()` constructor creates a child of the empty
  environment and takes an optional named list of data to populate it.
  Compared to `env()` and `child_env()`, it is meant to create
  environments as data structures rather than as part of a scope
  hierarchy.

* The `new_call()` constructor creates calls out of a callable
  object (a function or an expression) and a pairlist of arguments. It
  is useful to avoid costly internal coercions between lists and
  pairlists of arguments.


## UI improvements:

* `env_child()`'s first argument is now `.parent` instead of `parent`.

* `mut_` setters like `mut_attrs()` and environment helpers like
  `env_bind()` and `env_unbind()` now return their (modified) input
  invisibly. This follows the tidyverse convention that functions
  called primarily for their side effects should return their input
  invisibly.

* `is_pairlist()` now returns `TRUE` for `NULL`. We added `is_node()`
  to test for actual pairlist nodes. In other words, `is_pairlist()`
  tests for the data structure while `is_node()` tests for the type.


## Bugfixes:

* `env()` and `env_child()` can now get arguments whose names start
  with `.`.  Prior to this fix, these arguments were partial-matching
  on `env_bind()`'s `.env` argument.

* The internal `replace_na()` symbol was renamed to avoid a collision
  with an exported function in tidyverse. This solves an issue
  occurring in old versions of R prior to 3.3.2 (#133).


# rlang 0.1.0

Initial release.