name
Names and Symbols
Description
Creates and tests for objects of mode name.  Name objects 
are used mainly in the parsed form of expressions to represent 
names typed by the user.
Usage
is.symbol(x)
as.symbol(x)
is.name(x)
as.name(x)
Arguments
Details
as.name and as.symbol are identical.  is.name and 
is.symbol are identical.  They are present for compatibility with R.
Value
| as.name and as.symbol | return an object of mode/class 
"name", coerced from x. The returned object x's type is 
displayed as "symbol" when you call typeof(x). This is 
useful when x is of mode "character". | 
 
| is.name and is.symbol | return TRUE if x 
is a name and FALSE otherwise. | 
 
Note
We use the word "name" here differently than that for the names  
of a list or a vector. See 
names for a description of 
that usage. 
See Also
Examples
mode(eval(as.name("ls"))) # returns "function" 
xan <- as.name("xyz")
typeof(xan)   # returns "symbol"
mode(xan)  # returns "name"
class(xan) # returns "name"
is.name(xan) #  TRUE