How to use the 'sweep' function

Question

When I look at the source of R Packages, i see the function sweep used quite often. Sometimes it\'s used when a simpler function would have sufficed (e.g.,

Answer 1

sweep() can be great for systematically manipulating a large matrix either column by column, or row by row, as shown below:

> print(size)
     Weight Waist Height
[1,]    130    26    140
[2,]    110    24    155
[3,]    118    25    142
[4,]    112    25    175
[5,]    128    26    170

> sweep(size, 2, c(10, 20, 30), "+")
     Weight Waist Height
[1,]    140    46    170
[2,]    120    44    185
[3,]    128    45    172
[4,]    122    45    205
[5,]    138    46    200

Granted, this example is simple, but changing the STATS and FUN argument, other manipulations are possible.