Functions

Note

This section is about calling R functions from Python. To make Python functions callable by R, see the low-level function rpy2.rinterface.rternalize().

R functions exposed by rpy2’s high-level interface can be used:

• like any regular Python function as they are callable objects (see Section Callable)
• through their method rcall() (see Section rcall())

Callable

from rpy2.robjects.packages import importr
base = importr('base')
stats = importr('stats')
graphics = importr('graphics')

plot = graphics.plot
rnorm = stats.rnorm
plot(rnorm(100), ylab="random")

This is all looking fine and simple until R arguments with names such as na.rm are encountered. By default, this is addressed by having a translation of ‘.’ (dot) in the R argument name into a ‘_’ in the Python argument name.

Let’s take an example in R:

rank(0, na.last = TRUE)
# or without the implicit namespace:
base::(0, na.last = TRUE)

In Python one can write:

from rpy2.robjects.packages import importr
base = importr('base')

base.rank(0, na_last = True)

Note

In this example, the object base.rank is an instance of functions.SignatureTranslatedFunction, a child class of functions.Function, and the translation of the argument names is made during the creation of the instance. Making the translation during the creation obviously saves the need to perform translation operations on parameter names, such as replacing ‘.’ with ‘_’, at each function call, and allows rpy2 to perform sanity checks regarding possible ambiguous translations (R functions, even in the base libraries, happen to sometimes have both argument names foo.bar and foo_bar in the signature of the same function). The cost of performing the mapping is amortized when a function is called repeatedly since this is only performed when the instance is created.

If no translation is desired, the class functions.Function can be used. With that class, using the special Python syntax **kwargs is one way to specify named arguments to R functions that contain a dot ‘.’

One will note that the translation is done by inspecting the signature of the R function, and that not much can be guessed from the R ellipsis ‘…’ whenever present. Arguments falling in the ‘…’ will need to have their R names passed to the constructor for functions.SignatureTranslatedFunction as show in the example below:

>>> graphics = importr('graphics')
>>> graphics.par(cex_axis = 0.5)
Warning message:
In function (..., no.readonly = FALSE)  :
"cex_axis" is not a graphical parameter
<Vector - Python:0xa1688cc / R:0xab763b0>
>>> graphics.par(**{'cex.axis': 0.5})
<Vector - Python:0xae8fbec / R:0xaafb850>

There exists a way to specify manually an argument mapping:

from rpy2.robjects.functions import SignatureTranslatedFunction
STM = SignatureTranslatedFunction
from rpy2.robjects.packages import importr
graphics = importr('graphics')
graphics.par = STM(graphics.par,
                   init_prm_translate = {'cex_axis': 'cex.axis'})

>>> graphics.par(cex_axis = 0.5)
<Vector - Python:0xa2cc90c / R:0xa5f7fd8>

Translating blindly each ‘.’ in argument names into ‘_’ currently appearsto be a risky practice, and is left to one to decide for his/her own code. The code example is a demonstration of how to do, not a recommendation to do it:

def iamfeelinglucky(func):
    def f(*args, **kwargs):
        d = {}
        for k, v in kwargs.items():
            d[k.replace('_', '.')] = v
        return func(**d)
    return f

lucky_par = iamfeelinglucky(graphics.par)
lucky_path(cex_axis = 0.5)

Things are also not always that simple, as the use of a dictionary does not ensure that the order in which the arguments are passed is conserved.

R is capable of introspection, and can return the arguments accepted by a function through the function formals(), modelled as a method of functions.Function.

>>> from rpy2.robjects.packages import importr
>>> stats = importr('stats')
>>> rnorm = stats.rnorm
>>> rnorm.formals()
<Vector - Python:0x8790bcc / R:0x93db250>
>>> tuple(rnorm.formals().names)
('n', 'mean', 'sd')

Warning

Here again there is a twist coming from R, and some functions are “special”. rpy2 is exposing as rpy2.rinterface.SexpClosure R objects that can be either CLOSXP, BUILTINSXP, or SPECIALSXP. However, only CLOSXP objects will return non-null formals.

rcall()

The method Function.rcall() is an alternative way to call an underlying R function. When using R environment in which the function should be evaluated must be specified.

We use again the example with plot():

from rpy2.robjects.packages import importr
base = importr('base')
stats = importr('stats')
graphics = importr('graphics')

plot = graphics.plot
rnorm = stats.rnorm

# import R's "GlobalEnv" to evaluate the function
from rpy2.robjects import globalenv

# build a tuple of 2-tuple as arguments
args = (('x', rnorm(100)),)

# run the function in globalenv
plot.rcall(args, globalenv)

In the example above the label for y-axis is inferred from the call (in R, using the function deparse()) and this is producing rather undesirably long labels. This is the case because the vector x is an anonymous object as far a R is concerned: while it has a symbol for Python (“x”), it does not have any for R.

The method rcall() can help overcome this by letting one use an environment in which the R objects can be bound to a symbol (a name). While globalenv can be used, a dedicated environment can lead to a better compartmentalization of code.

The call above can then become:

from rpy2.robjects import Environment

# Create an R environment
env = Environment()

# Bind in R the R vector to the symbol "x" and
# in that environment
env['x'] = rnorm(100)

# Build a tuple of pairs (<argument name>, <argument>).
# Note that the argument is a symbol. R will resolve what
# object is associated to that symbol when the function
# is executed.
args = (('x', base.as_symbol('x')),)

# plot
plot.rcall(args, env)

Docstrings

The R functions as defined in rpy2.robjects inherit from the class rpy2.rinterface.SexpClosure, and further documentation on the behavior of function can be found in Section Functions.

class rpy2.robjects.functions.Function(*args, **kwargs)

Bases: rpy2.robjects.robject.RObjectMixin, rpy2.rinterface.SexpClosure

Python representation of an R function.

formals()

Return the signature of the underlying R function (as the R function ‘formals()’ would).

rcall(*args)

Wrapper around the parent method rpy2.rinterface.SexpClosure.rcall().

class rpy2.robjects.functions.SignatureTranslatedFunction(*args, **kwargs)

Bases: rpy2.robjects.functions.Function

Python representation of an R function, where the names in named argument are translated to valid argument names in Python.