[gov2001-l] reading packaged functions in R? - Gov2001

23 Mar 2009

Hi all,

I'm trying to read the source code for some functions that are  
included in the package "nlme". Specifically, I'd like to see the  
source code for "lme" and "nlme". However, instead of a long bunch of 

code (as I get for example from typing in "lm" or "survreg"), I just 

get the short bits of code I've pasted in below.

Can anybody tell me how I can see the source code for these functions?  
I don't really get the idea behind "UseMethod(X)"--it just seems to  
hide what's really going on.

I've even looked through the various files associated with R on my  
computer's hard drive, but I can't figure out where to find the  
functions.

Thanks in advance for any assistance,
Malcolm

...
  lme function (fixed, data =
sys.frame(sys.parent()), random, correlation =  
NULL,
     weights = NULL, subset, method = c("REML", "ML"), na.action =  
na.fail,
     control = list(), contrasts = NULL, keep.data = TRUE)
UseMethod("lme")
<environment: namespace:nlme>
...
  nlme function (model, data =
sys.frame(sys.parent()), fixed, random = fixed,
     groups, start, correlation = NULL, weights = NULL, subset,
     method = c("ML", "REML"), na.action = na.fail, naPattern,
     control = list(), verbose = FALSE)
{
     UseMethod("nlme")
}
<environment: namespace:nlme>