AsIs package:base R Documentation _I_n_h_i_b_i_t _I_n_t_e_r_p_r_e_t_a_t_i_o_n/_C_o_n_v_e_r_s_i_o_n _o_f _O_b_j_e_c_t_s _D_e_s_c_r_i_p_t_i_o_n: Change the class of an object to indicate that it should be treated 'as is'. _U_s_a_g_e: I(x) _A_r_g_u_m_e_n_t_s: x: an object _D_e_t_a_i_l_s: Function 'I' has two main uses. * In function 'data.frame'. Protecting an object by enclosing it in 'I()' in a call to 'data.frame' inhibits the conversion of character vectors to factors and the dropping of names, and ensures that matrices are inserted as single columns. 'I' can also be used to protect objects which are to be added to a data frame, or converted to a data frame _via_ 'as.data.frame'. It achieves this by prepending the class '"AsIs"' to the object's classes. Class '"AsIs"' has a few of its own methods, including for '[', 'as.data.frame', 'print' and 'format'. * In function 'formula'. There it is used to inhibit the interpretation of operators such as '"+"', '"-"', '"*"' and '"^"' as formula operators, so they are used as arithmetical operators. This is interpreted as a symbol by 'terms.formula'. _V_a_l_u_e: A copy of the object with class '"AsIs"' prepended to the class(es). _R_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e_s: Chambers, J. M. (1992) _Linear models._ Chapter 4 of _Statistical Models in S_ eds J. M. Chambers and T. J. Hastie, Wadsworth & Brooks/Cole. _S_e_e _A_l_s_o: 'data.frame', 'formula'