safe_sample.R

# Avoids the following inconsitent behaviour from R's sample() function

# From the doc: If x has length 1, is numeric (in the sense of is.numeric) and x >= 1, sampling via 
# sample takes place from 1:x. Note that this convenience feature may lead to 
# undesired behaviour when x is of varying length in calls such as sample(x). See the examples.
safe_sample <- function(x, ...) {
  lx <- length(x)
  if (lx == 1 & is.numeric(x)) {
    as.numeric(sample(as.character(x), ...))
  } else {
    sample(x, ...)
  }
}