Condition handling

warnings and messages

The stop_if(), warn_if() and message_if() are easy to use functions that send an error, a warning or a message if a condition is met. Each function has its counterpart with _not that returns a message if the condition is not met.

stop_if_not() is quite the same as assert_that() from the {assertthat} package, except that it can takes mappers. It is not the same as base stopifnot(), as it doesn’t take a list of expression.

These functions are also flexible as you can pass base predicates (is.numeric, is.character…), a custom predicate built with mappers, or even your own predicate function.

You can either choose a custom message or just let the built-in messages be printed:

x <- 12
# Stop if .x is numeric
stop_if(
  .x = x,
  .p = is.numeric
)
#> Error: Test `is.numeric` on `x` returned an error.

y <- "20"
# stop if .x is not numeric
stop_if_not(
  .x = y,
  .p = is.numeric,
  msg = "y should be numeric"
)
#> Error: y should be numeric
a <- "this is not numeric"
# Warn if .x is charcter
warn_if(
  .x = a,
  .p = is.character
)
#> Warning: Test `is.character` on `a` returned a warning.

b <- 20
# Warn if .x is not equal to 10
warn_if_not(
  .x = b,
  .p = ~ .x == 10,
  msg = "b should be 10"
)
#> Warning: b should be 10

c <- "a"
# Message if c is a character
message_if(
  .x = c,
  .p = is.character,
  msg = "You entered a character element"
)
#> You entered a character element

# Build more complex predicates
d <- 100
message_if(
  .x = d,
  .p = ~ sqrt(.x) < 42,
  msg = "The square root of your element must be more than 42"
)
#> The square root of your element must be more than 42

# Or, if you're kind of old school, you can still pass classic functions

e <- 30
message_if(
  .x = e,
  .p = function(vec) {
    return(sqrt(vec) < 42)
  },
  msg = "The square root of your element must be more than 42"
)
#> The square root of your element must be more than 42

If you need to call a function that takes no argument at .p (like curl::has_internet()), use this function as .x.

stop_if(.x = curl::has_internet(), msg = "You shouldn't have internet to do that")
#> Error: You shouldn't have internet to do that

warn_if(
  .x = curl::has_internet(),
  msg = "You shouldn't have internet to do that"
)
#> Warning: You shouldn't have internet to do that

message_if(
  .x = curl::has_internet(),
  msg = "Huray, you have internet \\o/"
)
#> Huray, you have internet \o/

If you don’t specify a .p, the default test is isTRUE().

a <- is.na(airquality$Ozone)
message_if_any(a, msg = "NA found")
#> NA found

In function

That can come really handy inside a function:

my_fun <- function(x) {
  stop_if_not(
    .x = curl::has_internet(),
    msg = "You should have internet to do that"
  )
  warn_if_not(
    x,
    is.character,
    msg = "x is not a character vector. The output may not be what you're expecting."
  )
  paste(x, "is the value.")
}

my_fun(head(iris))
#> Warning: x is not a character vector. The output may not be what you're
#> expecting.
#> [1] "c(5.1, 4.9, 4.7, 4.6, 5, 5.4) is the value."  
#> [2] "c(3.5, 3, 3.2, 3.1, 3.6, 3.9) is the value."  
#> [3] "c(1.4, 1.4, 1.3, 1.5, 1.4, 1.7) is the value."
#> [4] "c(0.2, 0.2, 0.2, 0.2, 0.2, 0.4) is the value."
#> [5] "c(1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1) is the value."

none, all, any

stop_if(), warn_if() and message_if() all have complementary tests with _all, _any and _none, which combine the if_* and the warn_*, stop_* and message_* seen before. They take a list as first argument, and a predicate. They test if any, all or none of the elements validate the predicate.

stop_if_any(iris, is.factor, msg = "Factors here. This might be due to stringsAsFactors.")
#> Error: Factors here. This might be due to stringsAsFactors.

warn_if_none(1:10, ~ .x < 0, msg = "You need to have at least one number under zero.")
#> Warning: You need to have at least one number under zero.

message_if_all(1:100, is.numeric, msg = "That makes a lot of numbers.")
#> That makes a lot of numbers.

on_error()

on_error() behaves as on.exit() except it happens only when there is an error in the function.

y <- function(x){
  on_error(~ print("ouch"))
  log(x)
}
y(12)
[1] 2.484907
y("a")
Error in log(x) : non-numeric argument to mathematical function
[1] "ouch"