r - How to reliably get dependent variable name from formula object?

Question

Let's say I have the following formula:

myformula<-formula("depVar ~ Var1 + Var2")

How to reliably get dependent variable name from formula object?

I failed to find any built-in function that serves this purpose. I know that as.character(myformula)[[2]] works, as do

sub("^(\w*)\s~\s.*$","\1",deparse(myform))

It just seems to me, that these methods are more a hackery, than a reliable and standard method to do it.

---

Does anyone know perchance what exactly method the e.g. lm use? I've seen it's code, but it is a little to cryptic to me... here is a quote for your convenience:

    > lm
function (formula, data, subset, weights, na.action, method = "qr", 
    model = TRUE, x = FALSE, y = FALSE, qr = TRUE, singular.ok = TRUE, 
    contrasts = NULL, offset, ...) 
{
    ret.x <- x
    ret.y <- y
    cl <- match.call()
    mf <- match.call(expand.dots = FALSE)
    m <- match(c("formula", "data", "subset", "weights", "na.action", 
        "offset"), names(mf), 0L)
    mf <- mf[c(1L, m)]
    mf$drop.unused.levels <- TRUE
    mf[[1L]] <- as.name("model.frame")
    mf <- eval(mf, parent.frame())
    if (method == "model.frame") 
        return(mf)
    else if (method != "qr") 
        warning(gettextf("method = '%s' is not supported. Using 'qr'", 
            method), domain = NA)
    mt <- attr(mf, "terms")
    y <- model.response(mf, "numeric")
    w <- as.vector(model.weights(mf))
    if (!is.null(w) && !is.numeric(w)) 
        stop("'weights' must be a numeric vector")
    offset <- as.vector(model.offset(mf))
    if (!is.null(offset)) {
        if (length(offset) != NROW(y)) 
            stop(gettextf("number of offsets is %d, should equal %d (number of observations)", 
                length(offset), NROW(y)), domain = NA)
    }
    if (is.empty.model(mt)) {
        x <- NULL
        z <- list(coefficients = if (is.matrix(y)) matrix(, 0, 
            3) else numeric(), residuals = y, fitted.values = 0 * 
            y, weights = w, rank = 0L, df.residual = if (!is.null(w)) sum(w != 
            0) else if (is.matrix(y)) nrow(y) else length(y))
        if (!is.null(offset)) {
            z$fitted.values <- offset
            z$residuals <- y - offset
        }
    }
    else {
        x <- model.matrix(mt, mf, contrasts)
        z <- if (is.null(w)) 
            lm.fit(x, y, offset = offset, singular.ok = singular.ok, 
                ...)
        else lm.wfit(x, y, w, offset = offset, singular.ok = singular.ok, 
            ...)
    }
    class(z) <- c(if (is.matrix(y)) "mlm", "lm")
    z$na.action <- attr(mf, "na.action")
    z$offset <- offset
    z$contrasts <- attr(x, "contrasts")
    z$xlevels <- .getXlevels(mt, mf)
    z$call <- cl
    z$terms <- mt
    if (model) 
        z$model <- mf
    if (ret.x) 
        z$x <- x
    if (ret.y) 
        z$y <- y
    if (!qr) 
        z$qr <- NULL
    z
}

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13217322/how-to-reliably-get-dependent-variable-name-from-formula-object

Answer 1

Try using all.vars:

all.vars(myformula)[1]