Indexing for edge extraction operates in a manner analogous to matrix objects. Thus, x[,] selects all vertex pairs, x[1,-5] selects the pairing of vertex 1 with all vertices except for 5, etc. Following this, it is acceptable for i and/or j to be logical vectors indicating which vertices are to be included. During assignment, an attempt is made to match the elements of value to the extracted pairs in an intelligent way; in particular, elements of value will be replicated if too few are supplied (allowing expressions like x[1,]<-1). Where names.eval==NULL, zero and non-zero values are taken to indicate the presence of absence of edges. x[2,4]<-6 thus adds a single (2,4) edge to x, and x[2,4]<-0 removes such an edge (if present). If x is multiplex, assigning 0 to a vertex pair will eliminate all edges on that pair. Pairs are taken to be directed where is.directed(x)==TRUE, and undirected where is.directed(x)==FALSE. If an edge attribute is specified using names.eval, then the provided values will be assigned to that attribute. When assigning values, only extant edges are employed (unless add.edges==TRUE); in the latter case, any non-zero assignment results in the addition of an edge where currently absent. If the attribute specified is not present on a given edge, it is added. Otherwise, any existing value is overwritten. The %e% operator can also be used to extract/assign edge values; in those roles, it is respectively equivalent to get.edge.value(x,attrname) and set.edge.value(x,attrname=attrname,value=value). Note that the assignment operator takes edge values input in adjacency matrix form.
The %n% and %v% operators serve as front-ends to the network and vertex extraction/assignment functions (respectively). In the extraction case, x %n% attrname is equivalent to get.network.attribute(x,attrname), with x %v% attrname corresponding to get.vertex.attribute(x,attrname). In assignment, the respective equivalences are to set.network.attribute(x,attrname,value) and set.vertex.attribute(x,attrname,value). Note that the ``%%'' assignment forms are generally slower than the named versions of the functions beause they will trigger an additional internal copy of the network object.
The %eattr%, %nattr%, and %vattr% operators are equivalent to %e%, %n%, and %v% (respectively). The short forms are more succinct, but may produce less readable code.