The function returns indicator variables for intervals defined by the integer values within the range of x. It is expressly created to specify an unconstrained function in the space of lags for distributed lag linear (DLMs) or non-linear (DLNMs) models, and probably of no use beyond that.
The argument intercept determines the presence of an intercept. If FALSE, the interval corresponding to the first value in values is excluded, and the parameterization is indentical to dummy variables with the first group as a reference.