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% File src/library/base/man/array.Rd
% Part of the R package, http://www.R-project.org
% Copyright 1995-2008 R Core Development Team
% Distributed under GPL 2 or later

\name{array}
\alias{array}
\alias{as.array}
\alias{as.array.default}
\alias{is.array}
\title{Multi-way Arrays}
\description{
  Creates or tests for arrays.
}
\usage{
array(data = NA, dim = length(data), dimnames = NULL)
as.array(x, ...)
is.array(x)
}
\arguments{
  \item{data}{a vector (including a list) giving data to fill the array.}
  \item{dim}{the dim attribute for the array to be created, that is a
    vector of length one or more giving the maximal indices in
    each dimension.}
  \item{dimnames}{the names for the dimensions. This is a list with one
    component for each dimension, either NULL or a character vector of
    the length given by \code{dim} for that dimension.  The list can be
    names, and the names will be used as names for the dimensions.}
  \item{x}{an \R object.}
  \item{\dots}{additional arguments to be passed to or from methods.}
}
\value{
  \code{array} returns an array with the extents specified in \code{dim}
  and naming information in \code{dimnames}.  The values in \code{data} are
  taken to be those in the array with the leftmost subscript moving
  fastest.  If there are too few elements in \code{data} to fill the array,
  then the elements in \code{data} are recycled.  If \code{data} has
  length zero, \code{NA} of an appropriate type is used for atomic
  vectors (\code{0} for raw vectors) and \code{NULL} for lists.

  \code{as.array} is a generic function for coercing to arrays.  The
  default method does so by attaching a \code{\link{dim}} attribute to
  it.  It also attaches \code{\link{dimnames}} if \code{x} has
  \code{\link{names}}.  The sole purpose of this is to make it possible
  to access the \code{dim}[names] attribute at a later time.

  \code{is.array} returns \code{TRUE} or \code{FALSE} depending on
  whether its argument is an array (i.e., has a \code{dim} attribute of
  positive length) or not.  It is generic: you can write methods to handle
  specific classes of objects, see \link{InternalMethods}.
}
\references{
  Becker, R. A., Chambers, J. M. and Wilks, A. R. (1988)
  \emph{The New S Language}.
  Wadsworth \& Brooks/Cole.
}
\seealso{
  \code{\link{aperm}}, \code{\link{matrix}},
  \code{\link{dim}}, \code{\link{dimnames}}.
}
\examples{
dim(as.array(letters))
array(1:3, c(2,4)) # recycle 1:3 "2 2/3 times"
#     [,1] [,2] [,3] [,4]
#[1,]    1    3    2    1
#[2,]    2    1    3    2
}
\keyword{array}