RStudio

Author
Affiliation
Jubayer Hossain

Founder & Instructor, CHIRAL Bangladesh

Published

May 7, 2023

Working with R – RStudio

RStudio is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for R

RStudio logo

[source]

RStudio

Easier working with R

  • Syntax highlighting, code completion, and smart indentation
  • Easily manage multiple working directories and projects

More information

  • Workspace browser and data viewer
  • Plot history, zooming, and flexible image and file export
  • Integrated R help and documentation
  • Searchable command history

RStudio

RStudio

Getting the editor

Working with R in R Studio - 2 major panes:

  1. The Source/Editor: “Analysis” Script + Interactive Exploration
    • Static copy of what you did (reproducibility)
    • Top by default
  2. The R Console: “interprets” whatever you type
    • Calculator
    • Try things out interactively, then add to your editor
    • Bottom by default

Source / Editor

  • Where files open to
  • Have R code and comments in them
  • Can highlight and press (CMD+Enter (Mac) or Ctrl+Enter (Windows)) to run the code

In a .R file (we call a script), code is saved on your disk

R Console

  • Where code is executed (where things happen)
  • You can type here for things interactively
  • Code is not saved on your disk

RStudio

Super useful “cheat sheet”: https://github.com/rstudio/cheatsheets/raw/master/rstudio-ide.pdf

RStudio

RStudio layout

RStudio layout

RStudio Layout

If RStudio doesn’t look the way you want (or like our RStudio), then do:

RStudio –> Preferences –> Pane Layout

Workspace/Environment

Workspace/Environment

  • Tells you what objects are in R
  • What exists in memory/what is loaded?/what did I read in?

History

  • Shows previous commands. Good to look at for debugging, but don’t rely on it.
    Instead use RMarkdown!
  • Also type the “up” key in the Console to scroll through previous commands

Other Panes

  • Files - shows the files on your computer of the directory you are working in
  • Viewer - can view data or R objects
  • Help - shows help of R commands
  • Plots - pictures and figures
  • Packages - list of R packages that are loaded in memory

Let’s take a look at R Studio ourselves!

Lab: Starting with R and RMarkdown

💻 RStudio Lab

To do this lab we need to:

  1. Download the file at the link above by clicking on the link or typing in: https://jhudatascience.org/intro_to_r/modules/RStudio/lab/RStudio_Lab.Rmd (Also on the website schedule page - Lab for day 1)
  2. Find the downloaded file on your computer
  3. Open the file in RStudio

This may require finding your downloads on your computer.

Recall that these videos can help:

If you have a PC: https://youtu.be/we6vwB7DsNU

If you have a Mac: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao9e0cDzMrE

R Markdown file

R Markdown files (.Rmd) help generate reports that include your code and output. Think of them as fancier scripts.

  1. Helps you describe your code
  2. Allows you to check the output
  3. Can create many different file types

Create an R Markdown file

Go to File → New File → R Markdown

Call your file “first_markdown”

Code chunks

Within R Markdown files are code “chunks”

This is where you can type R code and run it!

Create Chunks

To create a new R code chunk:

Copy paste an existing chunk in the R Markdown file and replace the code OR

  1. Use the insert code chunk button at the top of RStudio.

  1. Select R as the language:

Run previous chunks button

You can run all chunks above a specific chunk using this button:

Chunk settings

Chunk settings

You can specify if a chunk will be seen in the report or not.

Knit file to html

This will create a report from the R Markdown document!

knit

Useful R Studio Shortcuts

Summary

  • RStudio makes working in R easier
  • the Editor is for static code like scripts or R Markdown documents
  • The console is for testing code
  • R markdown documents are really helpful for lots of reasons!
  • R code goes within what is called a chunk
  • Code chunks can be modified so that they show differently in reports

🏠 Class Website

💻 Lab