Can I tell the R plyr package to work in parallel by default?

Question

I'm doing some analysis something like this:

library(plyr)
input.files <- c("file1.txt", "file2.txt", "file3.txt")
input.data <- llply(input.files, load.file, .parallel=TRUE)
step.one.results <- llply(input.data, step.one, .parallel=TRUE)
step.two.results <- llply(step.one.results, step.two, .parallel=TRUE)
...
step.N.results <- llply(`step.N-1.results`, step.N, .parallel=TRUE)
...

Is there any way to make all the plyr functions parallel by default, so I don't always have to specify .parallel=TRUE for each step?

Wham

In addition to the solution below, it looks like there's a function called set.defaults in the diversitree package that can do this. – Bagdad

Answer 1

library(Defaults)
setDefaults(llply, .parallel=TRUE)

You'd have to setDefaults on every function for which you want to change the default formals. You can put this in your .Rprofile if you like.

You can also mess with the formals directly. e.g. formals(llply)$.parallel <- TRUE should work.

Stralsund

Just FYI, it looks like the Defaults package is no longer available on CRAN, so you'll have to mess with the formals directly. – Bagdad

Answer 2

From my answer to another question:

As the Defaults package is no longer available from CRAN, you can use default.

As an example:

x <- list(a = 1, b = 2, c = 3)
default::default(unlist) <- list(use.names = FALSE)
unlist(x)
#> [1] 1 2 3

unlist <- default::reset_default(unlist)
unlist(x)
#> a b c 
#> 1 2 3

Created on 2019-03-22 by the reprex package (v0.2.0.9000).

Varied

Thanks for your input! Unfortunately stack overflow's policy is that answers should provide a solution even if the link gets removed. Please edit your question accordingly, or use a comment instead. Thanks! – Inkling

Thank you! According to your request, I have lazily copied my answer from the related question. Is it correct ? – Varied

Yup! As long as your answer makes sense even without the link, it's all good. – Inkling