Run Regex-functions on the Vector

[discoleo]

Regular Expressions

Run functions using regular expressions on the entire vector, not on individual values. The Regex code can be compiled at runtime and run much faster. It is also a better design.

Existing Code

# - comments are also ugly formatted; else { #block_names were not provided, infer from filename

infer the names from filenames, stripping off the extension from end

  # and the dot at the beginning (if any)
  outputs[[i]]$metadata["block_name"] <- 
    sub("^\\.?/?(.*)\\.[[:alnum:]]+$", "\\1", files[i])
}

Modified Design

# - move code outside the for-loop; # - can be also inside a new utility function; if(is.null(block_names)) { # Why not save the results directly in block_names? # Nice comments as well: # Block_names were not provided: # - infer the names from filenames; # - strip off the extension from end # and the dot at the beginning (if any); block_names = sub("^\.?/?(.*)\.[[:alnum:]]+$", "\1", files); }

You can use now block_names in the for-loop directly, without checking for NULL anymore.

Note:

• move the whole processing of meta-data to new utility functions: will be a separate issue;
• GitHub fails to preserve spaces/indentation in the code: but the comments are still nicer;