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It seems to be generally considered poor programming practise to use variable names that have functions in base R with the same name. For example, it is tempting to write: data <- data.frame(...) df <- data.frame(...) Now, the function data loads data sets while the function df computes the f density function. Similarly, it is tempting to write: a <- 1 b <- 2 c <- 3 This is considered bad form because the function c will combine its arguments. But: In that workhorse of R functions, lm , to compute linear models, data is used as an argument. In other words, data becomes an explicit variable inside the lm function. So: If the R core team can use identical names for variables and functions, what stops us mere mortals? The answer is not that R will get confused. Try the following example, where I explicitly assign a variable with the name c . R doesn't get confused at all with the difference between variable and function: c("A", "B") [1] "A" "B" c <- c("Some text", "Second", "Third") c(1, 3, 5) [1] 1 3 5 c[3] [1] "Third" The question: What exactly is the problem with having variable with the same name as base R function?

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