R Function Recursion
Recursion
R also accepts function recursion, which means a defined function can call itself.
Recursion is a common mathematical and programming concept. It means that a function calls itself. This has the benefit of meaning that you can loop through data to reach a result.
The developer should be very careful with recursion as it can be quite easy to slip into writing a function which never terminates, or one that uses excess amounts of memory or processor power. However, when written correctly, recursion can be a very efficient and mathematically-elegant approach to programming.
In this example, tri_recursion() is a function that we have defined to call itself ("recurse"). We use the
k variable as the data, which decrements (-1) every time we recurse. The recursion ends when the
condition is not greater than 0 (i.e. when it is 0).
To a new developer it can take some time to work out how exactly this works, best way to find out is by testing and modifying it.
Example
tri_recursion <- function(k) {
if (k > 0) {
result <- k + tri_recursion(k - 1)
print(result)
} else {
result = 0
return(result)
}
}
tri_recursion(6)
Try it Yourself »