get_first_last <- function(data) {
if (length(data) == 0) {
return(list(first = -1, last = -1))
}
# Several values come back as one list
list(first = data[1],
last = data[length(data)])
}
lst <- c(2, 3, 5)
result <- get_first_last(lst)
# No unpacking: take the parts by name
first <- result$first
# first = 2
last <- result$last
# last = 5
str(result)
cat("first =", first, "\n")
cat("last =", last, "\n")