Re: Anova() in car not works after loading piecewiseSEM package

Ok !
According to what I see, the error is occurring inside car:::Anova.lme(), s=
pecifically during the construction of the model matrix.

It therefore appears to be a genuine compatibility problem between the curr=
ent CRAN versions of car (3.1-5), piecewiseSEM (2.3.1), and/or nlme (3.1-17=
0).

The fact that you reproduced the same behavior on both Windows and FreeBSD =
also suggests that the issue is not platform-specific.

I think this would be worth reporting to the package maintainers (perhaps s=
tarting with car, since the traceback shows that the failure occurs inside =
Anova.lme(), while mentioning that the problem only arises after loading pi=
ecewiseSEM). The reproducible example you=E2=80=99ve provided should make i=
t straightforward for them to investigate.



> Le 19 juil. 2026 =C3=A0 08:22, Jinsong Zhao <[email protected]> a =C3=A9cri=
t :
> =

> =EF=BB=BFThank for the instruction. Here is the whole outputs:
> =

> > library(piecewiseSEM)
> Registered S3 method overwritten by 'lme4':
>   method           from
>   na.action.merMod car
> =

>   This is piecewiseSEM version 2.3.0.2.
> =

> =

>   Questions or bugs can be addressed to <[email protected]>.
> > library(nlme)
> > library(car)
> Loading required package: carData
> > fm2 <- lme(distance ~ age + Sex, data =3D Orthodont, random =3D ~ 1)
> > Anova(fm2)
> Error in if (random) { : the condition has length > 1
> > car::Anova(fm2)
> Error in if (random) { : the condition has length > 1
> > car:::Anova.lme(fm2)
> Error in if (random) { : the condition has length > 1
> > traceback()
> 8: model.frame.lme(object, data, xlev =3D xlev)
> 7: model.frame(object, data, xlev =3D xlev)
> 6: model.matrix.default(mod, data =3D structure(list(distance =3D c(26,
>    25, 29, 31, 21.5, 22.5, 23, 26.5, 23, 22.5, 24, 27.5, 25.5, 27.5,
>    26.5, 27, 20, 23.5, 22.5, 26, 24.5, 25.5, 27, 28.5, 22, 22, 24.5,
>    26.5, 24, 21.5, 24.5, 25.5, 23, 20.5, 31, 26, 27.5, 28, 31, 31.5,
>    23, 23, 23.5, 25, 21.5, 23.5, 24, 28, 17, 24.5, 26, 29.5, 22.5,
>    25.5, 25.5, 26, 23, 24.5, 26, 30, 22, 21.5, 23.5, 25, 21, 20,
>    21.5, 23, 21, 21.5, 24, 25.5, 20.5, 24, 24.5, 26, 23.5, 24.5,
>    25, 26.5, 21.5, 23, 22.5, 23.5, 20, 21, 21, 22.5, 21.5, 22.5,
>    23, 25, 23, 23, 23.5, 24, 20, 21, 22, 21.5, 16.5, 19, 19, 19.5,
>    24.5, 25, 28, 28), age =3D c(8, 10, 12, 14, 8, 10, 12, 14, 8, 10,
>    12, 14, 8, 10, 12, 14, 8, 10, 12, 14, 8, 10, 12, 14, 8, 10, 12,
>    14, 8, 10, 12, 14, 8, 10, 12, 14, 8, 10, 12, 14, 8, 10, 12, 14,
>    8, 10, 12, 14, 8, 10, 12, 14, 8, 10, 12, 14, 8, 10, 12, 14, 8,
>    10, 12, 14, 8, 10, 12, 14, 8, 10, 12, 14, 8, 10, 12, 14, 8, 10,
>    12, 14, 8, 10, 12, 14, 8, 10, 12, 14, 8, 10, 12, 14, 8, 10, 12,
>    14, 8, 10, 12, 14, 8, 10, 12, 14, 8, 10, 12, 14), Subject =3D structur=
e(c(15L,
>    15L, 15L, 15L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 7L, 7L, 7L, 7L, 14L, 14L, 14L,
>    14L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 13L, 13L, 13L, 13L, 5L, 5L, 5L, 5L, 6L,
>    6L, 6L, 6L, 11L, 11L, 11L, 11L, 16L, 16L, 16L, 16L, 4L, 4L, 4L,
>    4L, 8L, 8L, 8L, 8L, 9L, 9L, 9L, 9L, 10L, 10L, 10L, 10L, 12L,
>    12L, 12L, 12L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 20L, 20L, 20L, 20L, 23L, 23L,
>    23L, 23L, 25L, 25L, 25L, 25L, 26L, 26L, 26L, 26L, 21L, 21L, 21L,
>    21L, 19L, 19L, 19L, 19L, 22L, 22L, 22L, 22L, 24L, 24L, 24L, 24L,
>    18L, 18L, 18L, 18L, 17L, 17L, 17L, 17L, 27L, 27L, 27L, 27L), levels =
=3D c("M16",
>    "M05", "M02", "M11", "M07", "M08", "M03", "M12", "M13", "M14",
>    "M09", "M15", "M06", "M04", "M01", "M10", "F10", "F09", "F06",
>    "F01", "F05", "F07", "F02", "F08", "F03", "F04", "F11"), class =3D c("=
ordered",
>    "factor")), Sex =3D structure(c(1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L,
>    1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L,
>    1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L,
>    1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L,
>    1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L,
>    2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L,
>    2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L,
>    2L, 2L, 2L, 2L), levels =3D c("Male", "Female"), class =3D "factor")),=
 row.names =3D c("1",
>    "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "10", "11", "12", "13",
>    "14", "15", "16", "17", "18", "19", "20", "21", "22", "23", "24",
>    "25", "26", "27", "28", "29", "30", "31", "32", "33", "34", "35",
>    "36", "37", "38", "39", "40", "41", "42", "43", "44", "45", "46",
>    "47", "48", "49", "50", "51", "52", "53", "54", "55", "56", "57",
>    "58", "59", "60", "61", "62", "63", "64", "65", "66", "67", "68",
>    "69", "70", "71", "72", "73", "74", "75", "76", "77", "78", "79",
>    "80", "81", "82", "83", "84", "85", "86", "87", "88", "89", "90",
>    "91", "92", "93", "94", "95", "96", "97", "98", "99", "100",
>    "101", "102", "103", "104", "105", "106", "107", "108"), outer =3D ~Se=
x, class =3D c("nfnGroupedData",
>    "nfGroupedData", "groupedData", "data.frame"), formula =3D distance ~
>        age | Subject, labels =3D list(x =3D "Age", y =3D "Distance from p=
ituitary to pterygomaxillary fissure"), units =3D list(
>        x =3D "(yr)", y =3D "(mm)"), FUN =3D structure(function (x)
>    max(x, na.rm =3D TRUE), source =3D "function (x) max(x, na.rm =3D TRUE=
)"), order.groups =3D TRUE),
>        contrasts.arg =3D list(Sex =3D structure(c(0, 1), dim =3D 2:1, dim=
names =3D list(
>            c("Male", "Female"), "Female"))))
> 5: NextMethod(formula(object), data =3D data, contrasts.arg =3D object$co=
ntrasts)
> 4: model.matrix.lme(mod)
> 3: model.matrix(mod)
> 2: Anova_II_lme(mod, vcov., singular.ok =3D singular.ok)
> 1: car:::Anova.lme(fm2)
> > sessionInfo()
> R version 4.6.1 (2026-06-24 ucrt)
> Platform: x86_64-w64-mingw32/x64
> Running under: Windows 10 x64 (build 19045)
> =

> Matrix products: default
>   LAPACK version 3.12.1
> =

> locale:
> [1] LC_COLLATE=3DChinese (Simplified)_China.utf8
> [2] LC_CTYPE=3DChinese (Simplified)_China.utf8
> [3] LC_MONETARY=3DChinese (Simplified)_China.utf8
> [4] LC_NUMERIC=3DC
> [5] LC_TIME=3DChinese (Simplified)_China.utf8
> =

> time zone: Asia/Shanghai
> tzcode source: internal
> =

> attached base packages:
> [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods  base
> =

> other attached packages:
> [1] car_3.1-5          carData_3.0-6      nlme_3.1-170  piecewiseSEM_2.3.1
> =

> loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
>  [1] Matrix_1.7-5       jsonlite_2.0.0     compiler_4.6.1  Rcpp_1.1.2
>  [5] DiagrammeR_1.0.12  splines_4.6.1      boot_1.3-32 fastmap_1.2.0
>  [9] lattice_0.22-9     TH.data_1.1-5      Formula_1.2-5 MuMIn_1.48.19
> [13] rbibutils_2.4.1    htmlwidgets_1.6.4  MASS_7.3-66 visNetwork_2.1.4
> [17] nloptr_2.2.1       insight_1.5.2      minqa_1.2.8 RColorBrewer_1.1-3
> [21] rlang_1.3.0        multcomp_1.4-31    performance_0.17.1 estimabilit=
y_2.0.0
> [25] cli_3.6.6          magrittr_2.0.5     Rdpack_2.6.6  emmeans_2.0.4
> [29] digest_0.6.39      grid_4.6.1         mvtnorm_1.4-2 sandwich_3.1-2
> [33] lme4_2.0-6         reformulas_0.4.4   glue_1.8.1  codetools_0.2-20
> [37] zoo_1.8-15         survival_3.8-9     abind_1.4-8 stats4_4.6.1
> [41] tools_4.6.1        htmltools_0.5.9
> > packageVersion("car")
> [1] =E2=80=983.1.5=E2=80=99
> > packageVersion("piecewiseSEM")
> [1] =E2=80=982.3.1=E2=80=99
> > packageVersion("nlme")
> [1] =E2=80=983.1.170=E2=80=99
> =

> All the packages are installed from CRAN, and updated to the latest versi=
on. I also run the codes on FreeBSD 15.1, the same output.
> =

> Best,
> =

> Jinsong
> =

>> On 7/19/2026 2:02 PM, varin sacha wrote:
>> Hi,
>> =

>> Could this be a package compatibility bug?
>> =

>> Since Anova(fm2), car::Anova(fm2), and even car:::Anova.lme(fm2) all pro=
duce the same error, it doesn=E2=80=99t appear to be a simple namespace mas=
king issue.
>> =

>> Could you post the output of:
>> =

>> traceback()
>> sessionInfo()
>> packageVersion("car")
>> packageVersion("piecewiseSEM")
>> packageVersion("nlme")
>> =

>> That should help identify the exact call that=E2=80=99s failing and whet=
her the problem lies in car, piecewiseSEM, or an incompatibility between th=
e two packages.
>> =

>> =

>> =

>>>> Le 19 juil. 2026 =C3=A0 04:58, Jinsong Zhao <[email protected]> a =C3=A9=
crit :
>>> =

>>> I have tried each solution in a new R session, and neither works.
>>> =

>>>> library(piecewiseSEM)
>>> Registered S3 method overwritten by 'lme4':
>>>   method           from
>>>   na.action.merMod car
>>> =

>>>   This is piecewiseSEM version 2.3.0.2.
>>> =

>>> =

>>>   Questions or bugs can be addressed to <[email protected]>.
>>>> library(nlme)
>>>> library(car)
>>> Loading required package: carData
>>>> fm2 <- lme(distance ~ age + Sex, data =3D Orthodont, random =3D ~ 1)
>>>> Anova(fm2)
>>> Error in if (random) { : the condition has length > 1
>>>> car::Anova(fm2)
>>> Error in if (random) { : the condition has length > 1
>>>> car:::Anova.lme(fm2)
>>> Error in if (random) { : the condition has length > 1
> =