Remove objects in .GlobalEnv from within a function

Question

I would like to create a function (CleanEnvir) which basically calls remove/rm and which removes certain objects from .GlobalEnv.

  Cle         


        

Answer 1

ls() needs to look in the correct place. By default it looks in the current frame, that of the function CleanEnvir in your case and hence was only finding "pattern" in your original.

CleanEnvir <- function(pattern = "tmp") {
    objs <- ls(pos = ".GlobalEnv")
    rm(list = objs[grep("tmp", objs)], pos = ".GlobalEnv")
}

Which gives:

> CleanEnvir <- function(pattern = "tmp") {
+     objs <- ls(pos = ".GlobalEnv")
+     rm(list = objs[grep("tmp", objs)], pos = ".GlobalEnv")
+ }
> ls()
[1] "CleanEnvir"        "foo"               "keep"             
[4] "tmp.to.be.removed"
> CleanEnvir()
> ls()
[1] "CleanEnvir" "foo"        "keep"