R: += (plus equals) and ++ (plus plus) equivalent from c++/c#/java, etc.?

Question

Does R have a concept of += (plus equals) or ++ (plus plus) as c++/c#/others do?

Answer 1

We can override +. If unary + is used and its argument is itself an unary + call, then increment the relevant variable in the calling environment.

`+` <- function(e1,e2){
    # if unary `+`, keep original behavior
    if(missing(e2)) {
      s_e1 <- substitute(e1)
      # if e1 (the argument of unary +) is itself an unary `+` operation
      if(length(s_e1) == 2 && 
         identical(s_e1[[1]], quote(`+`)) && 
         length(s_e1[[2]]) == 1){
        # increment value in parent environment
        eval.parent(substitute(e1 <- e1 + 1,list(e1 = s_e1[[2]])))
      # else unary `+` should just return it's input
      } else e1
    # if binary `+`, keep original behavior
    } else .Primitive("+")(e1,e2)
}

x <- 10
++x
x
# [1] 11

other operations don't change :

x + 2
# [1] 13
x ++ 2
# [1] 13
+x
# [1] 11
x
# [1] 11

Don't do it though as you'll slow down everything. Or do it in another environment and make sure you don't have big loops on these instructions.

You can also just do this :

`++` <- function(x) eval.parent(substitute(x <-x +1))
a <- 1
`++`(a)
a
# [1] 2