Paren package:base R Documentation _P_a_r_e_n_t_h_e_s_e_s _a_n_d _B_r_a_c_e_s _D_e_s_c_r_i_p_t_i_o_n: Open parenthesis, '(', and open brace, '{', are '.Primitive' functions in R. Effectively, '(' is semantically equivalent to the identity 'function(x) x', whereas '{' is slightly more interesting, see examples. _U_s_a_g_e: ( ... ) { ... } _V_a_l_u_e: For '(', the result of evaluating the argument. This has visibility set, so will auto-print if used at top-level. For '{', the result of the last expression evaluated. This has the visibility of the last evaluation. _R_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e_s: Becker, R. A., Chambers, J. M. and Wilks, A. R. (1988) _The New S Language_. Wadsworth & Brooks/Cole. _S_e_e _A_l_s_o: 'if', 'return', etc for other objects used in the R language itself. 'Syntax' for operator precedence. _E_x_a_m_p_l_e_s: f <- get("(") e <- expression(3 + 2 * 4) identical(f(e), e) do <- get("{") do(x <- 3, y <- 2*x-3, 6-x-y); x; y ## note the differences (2+3) {2+3; 4+5} (invisible(2+3)) {invisible(2+3)}