% File src/library/utils/man/person.Rd
% Part of the R package, http://www.R-project.org
% Copyright 1995-2007 R Core Development Team
% Distributed under GPL 2 or later

\name{person}
\title{Person Names and Contact Information}
\alias{person}
\alias{as.person}
\alias{as.person.default}
\alias{personList}
\alias{as.personList}
\alias{as.personList.person}
\alias{as.personList.default}
\alias{as.character.person}
\alias{as.character.personList}
\alias{toBibtex.person}
\alias{toBibtex.personList}
\description{
  A class and utility methods for holding information about persons
  like name and email address.
}
\usage{
person(first = "", last = "", middle = "", email = "")
personList(...)
as.person(x)
as.personList(x)

\S3method{as.character}{person}(x, ...)
\S3method{as.character}{personList}(x, ...)

\S3method{toBibtex}{person}(object, ...)
\S3method{toBibtex}{personList}(object, ...)
}
\arguments{
  \item{first}{character string, first name}
  \item{middle}{character string, middle name(s)}
  \item{last}{character string, last name}
  \item{email}{character string, email address}
  \item{\dots}{for \code{personList} an arbitrary number of \code{person}
    objects}
  \item{x}{a character string or an object of class \code{person} or
    \code{personList}}
  \item{object}{an object of class \code{person} or
    \code{personList}}
}
\keyword{misc}
\examples{
## create a person object directly
p1 <- person("Karl", "Pearson", email = "pearson@stats.heaven")
p1

## convert a string
p2 <- as.person("Ronald Aylmer Fisher")
p2

## create one object holding both
p <- personList(p1, p2)
ps <- as.character(p)
ps
as.personList(ps)

## convert to BibTeX author field
toBibtex(p)
}