I'd like to set seeds in R only locally (inside functions), but it seems that R sets seeds not only locally, but also globally. Here's a simple example of what I'm trying (not) to do.
myfunction <- function () {
set.seed(2)
}
# now, whenever I run the two commands below I'll get the same answer
myfunction()
runif(1)
So, my questions are: why does R set the seed globally and not only inside my function? And how I can make R to set the seed only inside my function?
Something like this does it for me:
myfunction <- function () {
old <- .Random.seed
set.seed(2)
res <- runif(1)
.Random.seed <<- old
res
}
Or perhaps more elegantly:
myfunction <- function () {
old <- .Random.seed
on.exit( { .Random.seed <<- old } )
set.seed(2)
runif(1)
}
For example:
> myfunction()
[1] 0.1848823
> runif(1)
[1] 0.3472722
> myfunction()
[1] 0.1848823
> runif(1)
[1] 0.4887732