Can `sample()` in R just sample in a specified order?

Question

I was wondering how I could generate 1000 integers from 1 to 1000, one at a time in R. Making this a function, this means on the first run of the function, the function should produce 1, the second run 2, on the third run 3, ... 1000?

I have tried the following in R with no success:

gen = function(n){
  sample(1:n, 1, replace = FALSE)
  }
gen(1000)

Looks like what you want is something from the iterators [package](https://stackoverflow.com/q/16028374/324364). — joran, Jun 14 '17 at 17:27
This is a horrible idea btw. You may want to rethink your approach. — Pierre L, Jun 14 '17 at 17:39
Down.voter could you please explain the reason for downvoting this question? — rnorouzian, Jun 14 '17 at 18:01
@rnorouzian, I also have really no idea who downvoted and really why!? — , Jun 14 '17 at 18:04

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 14 '17 at 17:52

This is pretty bad practice, and you would be better rethinking your plan, but we can do it using a global variable, using <<-:

myfunc <- function(){
  if(!exists('mycounter')){
    mycounter<<-1
  }else {
    mycounter <<- mycounter + 1
  }
  return(mycounter)
}

> myfunc()
[1] 1
> myfunc()
[1] 2
> myfunc()
[1] 3
> myfunc()
[1] 4

You could extend this to eg: index another vector of randoms. Though, set.seed() would probably be want you want.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 14 '17 at 17:27

0

gen <- function(n)  {replicate(1000,sample(1:n,1))}

answered Jun 14 '17 at 17:27

Mouad_Seridi

2,666
15
27

I guess you might have misunderstood my purpose, I asked on EACH run of the function ONE number to be generated. That is, the first time you run `gen(1000)`, the function should generate `1`, the second time you run `gen(1000)` it must generate `2`... – rnorouzian Jun 14 '17 at 17:32
I guess I misunderstood the intent, in fact I still don't understand the intent. – Mouad_Seridi Jun 14 '17 at 17:39
This is iteration. – rnorouzian Jun 14 '17 at 17:40
replicate is an iterator.... – Mouad_Seridi Jun 14 '17 at 17:42

Can `sample()` in R just sample in a specified order?

2 Answers2