cc <- function(
	num=TRUE,   #whether to transform the data to numeric
	quiet=FALSE #whether to print the constructed data in the console
){

cdata <- list()
i <- 1

while(TRUE) {
	cdata[[i]] <- readline(paste(i, " : ", sep=""))
	if(cdata[[i]]=="..") { i <- i-1 } #work as <BackSpace>
	else if(cdata[[i]]=="") { break }
	else { i <- i+1 }
}
i <- i-1

cdata <- unlist(cdata[1:i])

if(i==1){

	tmp <- strsplit(cdata, ";")[[1]]
	tmp <- strsplit(tmp, " ")
	tmp <- lapply( X=tmp, FUN=function(x) return(x[!(x=="")]) )
	if(num) { tmp <- lapply( X=tmp, FUN=as.numeric ) }

	if( length(tmp)==1 ) {
		cdata <- unlist(tmp)
	} else if( !all(sapply( X=tmp, FUN=length )==length(tmp[[1]])) ) {
		stop("the numbers of column in each row differ.")
	} else {
		cdata <- matrix(unlist(tmp), nrow=length(tmp), ncol=length(tmp[[1]]), byrow=TRUE)
	}

	i <- length(unlist(tmp))

} else {
	if(num) { cdata <- as.numeric(cdata) }
}

if(!quiet) {
	cat("\ntotal", i, "items were read.\n")
	if(is.matrix(cdata)) {
		maxnch <- apply( X=cdata, MARGIN=2, FUN=function(x) max(nchar(x)) )
		for(j in 1:nrow(cdata)) {
			for(k in 1:length(cdata[j,])) { cat( rep(" ", maxnch[k]-nchar(cdata[j,k])), cdata[j,k], "  ", sep="") }
			cat("\n")
		}
	} else {
		cat(cdata, "\n", sep="  ")
	}
	cat("\n")
}

invisible(cdata)
}

comment(cc) <- c(
"cc - Make a vector/matrix using Matlab-like expression or sequential input.",
"     Just hit cc() and then put in the elements of the vector sequentially.",
"     You can use two periods <..> to redo the previous element input (works as <BackSpace>).",
"     Also, you can use a Matlab-like expression (e.g. 1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 9)",
"",
"SYNOPSIS",
"    x <- cc()",
"INPUT",
"    num   : logical. TRUE when need a numeric vector/matrix. Otherwise, a character vector/matrix is returned.",
"    quiet : logical. TRUE if you don't need a input data display to the console.",
"            FALSE recommended in case you forgot to catch the return value by any variable,",
"            so that you can salvage it from the console by using cc().",
"OUTPUT",
"    x : a vector/matrix.",
"",
"See http://www7b.biglobe.ne.jp/~homunculus/r/cc.html for detailed instruction in Japanese.",
"ver.1.01, written by MOCHI, 2009."
)