Bioequivalence and Bioavailability Forum

Haha Hötzi,

❝ ifelse (x1 < x2,


❝   cat(x1, "less than", x2, "\n"),
❝   cat(x1, "at least", x2, "\n"))

❝

❝ 12 less than 13

❝ Error in ifelse(x1 < x2, cat(x1, "less than", x2, "\n"), cat(x1, "at least",  :

❝   replacement has length zero

❝ In addition: Warning message:

❝ In rep(yes, length.out = length(ans)) :

❝   'x' is NULL so the result will be NULL

❝    What the f…k?

I agree ifelse(a,b,c) is a borderline silly function. It is in no way clear from the error message but b and c should be lean and mean variables rather than expressions. Therefore ifelse (a, do.this(blah), do.that(blah)) will only cause headache, at least as long as do.this/that(blah) doesn't return a value.
Like you I'd much prefer the classical if else construct.

I think this also goes to show that error messages should be user-friendly. If I am not mistaking only the guy who wrote the function understands that mumbo-jumbo. Preventive keelhauling would indeed seem to be a proper action to take.