Can the print() command in R be quieted?

Question

In R some functions can print information and return values, can the print be silenced?

For example:

print.and.return <- function() {
  print("foo")
  return("bar")
}

returns

> print.and.return()
[1] "foo"
[1] "bar"
> 

I can store the return like:

> z <- print.and.return()
[1] "foo"
> z
[1] "bar"
> 

Can I suppress the print of "foo"?

Answer 1

?capture.output

Answer 2

You may use hidden functional nature of R, for instance by defining function

deprintize<-function(f){
 return(function(...) {capture.output(w<-f(...));return(w);});
}

that will convert 'printing' functions to 'silent' ones:

noisyf<-function(x){
 print("BOO!");
 sin(x);
}

noisyf(7)
deprintize(noisyf)(7)
deprintize(noisyf)->silentf;silentf(7)