Make vector recycling rules its own FAQ

R/bind.R

@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ vec_rbind <- fn_inline_formals(vec_rbind, ".name_repair")
 #' @rdname vec_bind
 #' @param .size If, `NULL`, the default, will determine the number of rows in
 #'   `vec_cbind()` output by using the tidyverse [recycling
-#'   rules][vector_recycling_rules].
+#'   rules][theory-faq-recycling].
 #'
 #'   Alternatively, specify the desired number of rows, and any inputs of length
 #'   1 will be recycled appropriately.

R/faq-developer.R

@@ -12,6 +12,17 @@ NULL
 #' @name theory-faq-coercion
 NULL
 
+# Also see the `redirects:` section in `_pkgdown.yml`
+# for `vector_recycling_rules.html`
+
+#' FAQ - How does recycling work in vctrs and the tidyverse?
+#'
+#' @includeRmd man/faq/developer/theory-recycling.Rmd description
+#'
+#' @name theory-faq-recycling
+#' @aliases vector_recycling_rules
+NULL
+
 #' FAQ - How to implement ptype2 and cast methods?
 #'
 #' @includeRmd man/faq/developer/howto-coercion.Rmd description

R/recycle.R

@@ -1,80 +1,8 @@
-#' Recycling rules used by r-lib and the tidyverse
-#'
-#' @description
-#' Recycling describes the concept of repeating elements of one vector to match
-#' the size of another. There are two rules that underlie the "tidyverse"
-#' recycling rules:
-#'
-#' - Vectors of size 1 will be recycled to the size of any other vector
-#'
-#' - Otherwise, all vectors must have the same size
-#'
-#' @section Examples:
-#'
-#' ```{r, warning = FALSE, message = FALSE, include = FALSE}
-#' library(tibble)
-#' ```
-#'
-#' Vectors of size 1 are recycled to the size of any other vector:
-#'
-#' ```{r, comment = "#>"}
-#' tibble(x = 1:3, y = 1L)
-#' ```
-#'
-#' This includes vectors of size 0:
-#'
-#' ```{r, comment = "#>"}
-#' tibble(x = integer(), y = 1L)
-#' ```
-#'
-#' If vectors aren't size 1, they must all be the same size. Otherwise, an error
-#' is thrown:
-#'
-#' ```{r, comment = "#>", error = TRUE}
-#' tibble(x = 1:3, y = 4:7)
-#' ```
-#'
-#' @section vctrs backend:
-#'
-#' Packages in r-lib and the tidyverse generally use [vec_size_common()] and
-#' [vec_recycle_common()] as the backends for handling recycling rules.
-#'
-#' - `vec_size_common()` returns the common size of multiple vectors, after
-#'   applying the recycling rules
-#'
-#' - `vec_recycle_common()` goes one step further, and actually recycles the
-#'   vectors to their common size
-#'
-#' ```{r, comment = "#>", error = TRUE}
-#' vec_size_common(1:3, "x")
-#'
-#' vec_recycle_common(1:3, "x")
-#'
-#' vec_size_common(1:3, c("x", "y"))
-#' ```
-#'
-#' @section Base R recycling rules:
-#'
-#' The recycling rules described here are stricter than the ones generally used
-#' by base R, which are:
-#'
-#' - If any vector is length 0, the output will be length 0
-#'
-#' - Otherwise, the output will be length `max(length_x, length_y)`, and a
-#'   warning will be thrown if the length of the longer vector is not an integer
-#'   multiple of the length of the shorter vector.
-#'
-#' We explore the base R rules in detail in `vignette("type-size")`.
-#'
-#' @name vector_recycling_rules
-#' @keywords internal
-NULL
-
 #' Vector recycling
 #'
 #' `vec_recycle(x, size)` recycles a single vector to a given size.
 #' `vec_recycle_common(...)` recycles multiple vectors to their common size. All
-#' functions obey the [vctrs recycling rules][vector_recycling_rules], and will
+#' functions obey the [vctrs recycling rules][theory-faq-recycling], and will
 #' throw an error if recycling is not possible. See [vec_size()] for the precise
 #' definition of size.
 #'

R/rep.R

@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
 #'   the entire vector.
 #'
 #'   For `vec_rep_each()`, an integer vector of the number of times to repeat
-#'   each element of `x`. `times` will be [recycled][vector_recycling_rules] to
+#'   each element of `x`. `times` will be [recycled][theory-faq-recycling] to
 #'   the size of `x`.
 #' @param x_arg,times_arg Argument names for errors.
 #'

R/size.R

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 #' to `vec_size()` as [lengths()] is to [length()].
 #'
 #' @seealso [vec_slice()] for a variation of `[` compatible with `vec_size()`,
-#'   and [vec_recycle()] to [recycle][vector_recycling_rules] vectors to common
+#'   and [vec_recycle()] to [recycle][theory-faq-recycling] vectors to common
 #'   length.
 #' @section Invariants:
 #' * `vec_size(dataframe)` == `vec_size(dataframe[[i]])`

R/slice-interleave.R

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 #' @inheritParams vec_c
 #'
 #' @param ... Vectors to interleave. These will be
-#'   [recycled][vector_recycling_rules] to a common size.
+#'   [recycled][theory-faq-recycling] to a common size.
 #'
 #' @export
 #' @examples

R/type-data-frame.R

@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ new_data_frame <- fn_inline_formals(new_data_frame, "x")
 #'
 #' @section Properties:
 #'
-#' - Inputs are [recycled][vector_recycling_rules] to a common size with
+#' - Inputs are [recycled][theory-faq-recycling] to a common size with
 #'   [vec_recycle_common()].
 #'
 #' - With the exception of data frames, inputs are not modified in any way.

_pkgdown.yml

@@ -131,3 +131,10 @@ reference:
   - vec_names
   - vec_as_location
   - vec_as_subscript
+
+# Needed to generate a `vector_recycling_rules` page, since it is an `@alias`
+# but pkgdown doesn't currently generate pages for aliases. Other packages
+# link to this old page name, so we don't want it to disappear.
+# https://github.com/r-lib/pkgdown/issues/1876
+redirects:
+  - ["reference/vector_recycling_rules.html", "reference/theory-faq-recycling.html"]

man/faq/developer/theory-recycling.Rmd

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+
+```{r, child = "../setup.Rmd", include = FALSE}
+```
+
+Recycling describes the concept of repeating elements of one vector to match the size of another. There are two rules that underlie the "tidyverse" recycling rules:
+
+- Vectors of size 1 will be recycled to the size of any other vector
+
+- Otherwise, all vectors must have the same size
+
+# Examples
+
+```{r, warning = FALSE, message = FALSE, include = FALSE}
+library(tibble)
+```
+
+Vectors of size 1 are recycled to the size of any other vector:
+
+```{r}
+tibble(x = 1:3, y = 1L)
+```
+
+This includes vectors of size 0:
+
+```{r}
+tibble(x = integer(), y = 1L)
+```
+
+If vectors aren't size 1, they must all be the same size. Otherwise, an error is thrown:
+
+```{r, error = TRUE}
+tibble(x = 1:3, y = 4:7)
+```
+
+# vctrs backend
+
+Packages in r-lib and the tidyverse generally use [vec_size_common()] and [vec_recycle_common()] as the backends for handling recycling rules.
+
+- `vec_size_common()` returns the common size of multiple vectors, after applying the recycling rules
+
+- `vec_recycle_common()` goes one step further, and actually recycles the vectors to their common size
+
+```{r, error = TRUE}
+vec_size_common(1:3, "x")
+
+vec_recycle_common(1:3, "x")
+
+vec_size_common(1:3, c("x", "y"))
+```
+
+# Base R recycling rules
+
+The recycling rules described here are stricter than the ones generally used by base R, which are:
+
+- If any vector is length 0, the output will be length 0
+
+- Otherwise, the output will be length `max(length_x, length_y)`, and a warning will be thrown if the length of the longer vector is not an integer multiple of the length of the shorter vector.
+
+We explore the base R rules in detail in `vignette("type-size")`.