Meaning of ~. (tilde dot) argument?
r, syntax
Solution
This is a formula, in a shorthand notation. Try this:
plot( mpg ~ cyl, data= mtcars )
The left hand is the dependent variable, the right hand is the independent variable. Much like y = bx + c means that y ~ x.
Formulas are one of the corner stones of R, and you will need to understand them to use R efficiently. Most frequently, formulas are used in modeling of all sorts, for example you can do basic linear regression with
lm( mpg ~ wt, data= mtcars )
...to see how mileage per gallon depend on weight. Take a look at `?formula` for some more explanations.
The dot means "any columns from data that are otherwise not used". Google for "R formulas" to get more information.
Problem
What is the meaning of the `~.` argument in R? For example `plot(~.,xyz..)` I have seen this argument used several times in various contexts and since it is difficult to meaningfully search for symbols on google, I have met little success.