Intro to R programming language from Google Colab
Table of Contents:
- How to start R on Google Colab?
- How to get R version?
- How to get built-in objects?
- How to get info about any function in R?
- How to show all R options?
- Print and alter the particular option in R
- How to plot a simple function graph in R?
- How to get help on help in R?
- How to get list of R available packages?
- How to list available datasets in R?
- How to get help on any package?
- How to get the list of all R operators?
To start with R programming language I created a small overview of what are the most important things to learn first.
How to start R on Google Colab?
It is possible to run R directly on Google Colaboratory. This means you don’t need to set the environment on your end, just to start and experiment with R.
How to get R version?
There are several ways to get the R version. All these works:
R.Version()
R.version
R.version.string
version
, but my favorite is just version.
How to get built-in objects?
There is a simple builtins() command helping to return the names of all R built-in objects. These objects are fetched directly from the symbol table of the R interpreter.
I saw inside the builtins() the print function for example. This is the great intro for the next section.
How to get info about any function in R?
The key is to use the ? operator. ?print returned the description:
print prints its argument and returns it invisibly (via invisible(x)). It is a generic function which means that new printing methods can be easily added for new classes.
You can also use
help(print)to get the same results.
Online information about print is also helpful.
For me the crucial thing was to use to the idea that every function in R has a package it belongs to. In case of print it is the base package.
How to show all R options?
To show all R options you simple type:
print(options())
options() allow the user to set and examine a variety of global options which affect the way in which R computes and displays its results.
Print and alter the particular option in R
To print a single option you may use getOption:
Example:
op='width'
getOption(op, default = NULL)
# same as options(op)
Output:
80
Here is how the width 80 looks:
And if we alter the width option to 30 the output is different:
How to plot a simple function graph in R?
For the most basic example you will need to have a seq sequence from
How to get help on help in R?
It may be interesting but help(help) is also useful.
This will show the full list of help argument options:
help(topic, package=NULL, lib.loc=NULL, verbose=getOption("verbose"), try.all.packages=getOption("help.try.all.packages"), help_type=getOption("help_type"))
Also help is interesting because you can help.search() on any term which is the same as ??.
Example:
help.search('abs')
# or simple
??abs
How to get list of R available packages?
library() will list all R available packages, search() will list all loaded packages.
You can load (attach) a package with:
library("dplyr'). Inside a function check if a package has been loaded with require("dplyr") that returns either TRUE or FALSE.
R packages available
Packages in library '/usr/local/lib/R/site-library':
IRdisplay 'Jupyter' Display Machinery
IRkernel Native R Kernel for the 'Jupyter Notebook'
pbdZMQ Programming with Big Data -- Interface to
'ZeroMQ'
repr Serializable Representations
Packages in library '/usr/lib/R/site-library':
askpass Safe Password Entry for R, Git, and SSH
assertthat Easy Pre and Post Assertions
backports Reimplementations of Functions Introduced Since
R-3.0.0
base64enc Tools for base64 encoding
BH Boost C++ Header Files
brew Templating Framework for Report Generation
broom Convert Statistical Analysis Objects into Tidy
Tibbles
callr Call R from R
cellranger Translate Spreadsheet Cell Ranges to Rows and
Columns
cli Helpers for Developing Command Line Interfaces
clipr Read and Write from the System Clipboard
clisymbols Unicode Symbols at the R Prompt
colorspace A Toolbox for Manipulating and Assessing Colors
and Palettes
commonmark High Performance CommonMark and Github Markdown
Rendering in R
covr Test Coverage for Packages
crayon Colored Terminal Output
crosstalk Inter-Widget Interactivity for HTML Widgets
curl A Modern and Flexible Web Client for R
DBI R Database Interface
dbplyr A 'dplyr' Back End for Databases
desc Manipulate DESCRIPTION Files
devtools Tools to Make Developing R Packages Easier
digest Create Compact Hash Digests of R Objects
dplyr A Grammar of Data Manipulation
DT A Wrapper of the JavaScript Library
'DataTables'
ellipsis Tools for Working with ...
evaluate Parsing and Evaluation Tools that Provide More
Details than the Default
fansi ANSI Control Sequence Aware String Functions
farver High Performance Colour Space Manipulation
fastmap Fast Implementation of a Key-Value Store
forcats Tools for Working with Categorical Variables
(Factors)
fs Cross-Platform File System Operations Based on
'libuv'
gdtools Utilities for Graphical Rendering
generics Common S3 Generics not Provided by Base R
Methods Related to Model Fitting
ggplot2 Create Elegant Data Visualisations Using the
Grammar of Graphics
gh 'GitHub' 'API'
git2r Provides Access to Git Repositories
glue Interpreted String Literals
gtable Arrange 'Grobs' in Tables
haven Import and Export 'SPSS', 'Stata' and 'SAS'
Files
highr Syntax Highlighting for R Source Code
hms Pretty Time of Day
htmltools Tools for HTML
htmlwidgets HTML Widgets for R
httpuv HTTP and WebSocket Server Library
httr Tools for Working with URLs and HTTP
ini Read and Write '.ini' Files
jsonlite A Robust, High Performance JSON Parser and
Generator for R
knitr A General-Purpose Package for Dynamic Report
Generation in R
labeling Axis Labeling
later Utilities for Scheduling Functions to Execute
Later with Event Loops
lazyeval Lazy (Non-Standard) Evaluation
lifecycle Manage the Life Cycle of your Package Functions
lubridate Make Dealing with Dates a Little Easier
magrittr A Forward-Pipe Operator for R
markdown Render Markdown with the C Library 'Sundown'
memoise Memoisation of Functions
mime Map Filenames to MIME Types
modelr Modelling Functions that Work with the Pipe
munsell Utilities for Using Munsell Colours
openssl Toolkit for Encryption, Signatures and
Certificates Based on OpenSSL
pillar Coloured Formatting for Columns
pkgbuild Find Tools Needed to Build R Packages
pkgconfig Private Configuration for 'R' Packages
pkgload Simulate Package Installation and Attach
plogr The 'plog' C++ Logging Library
plyr Tools for Splitting, Applying and Combining
Data
praise Praise Users
prettyunits Pretty, Human Readable Formatting of Quantities
processx Execute and Control System Processes
progress Terminal Progress Bars
promises Abstractions for Promise-Based Asynchronous
Programming
ps List, Query, Manipulate System Processes
purrr Functional Programming Tools
R6 Encapsulated Classes with Reference Semantics
rcmdcheck Run 'R CMD check' from 'R' and Capture Results
RColorBrewer ColorBrewer Palettes
Rcpp Seamless R and C++ Integration
readr Read Rectangular Text Data
readxl Read Excel Files
rematch Match Regular Expressions with a Nicer 'API'
remotes R Package Installation from Remote
Repositories, Including 'GitHub'
reprex Prepare Reproducible Example Code via the
Clipboard
reshape2 Flexibly Reshape Data: A Reboot of the Reshape
Package
rex Friendly Regular Expressions
rlang Functions for Base Types and Core R and
'Tidyverse' Features
rmarkdown Dynamic Documents for R
roxygen2 In-Line Documentation for R
rprojroot Finding Files in Project Subdirectories
rstudioapi Safely Access the RStudio API
rversions Query 'R' Versions, Including 'r-release' and
'r-oldrel'
rvest Easily Harvest (Scrape) Web Pages
scales Scale Functions for Visualization
selectr Translate CSS Selectors to XPath Expressions
sessioninfo R Session Information
shiny Web Application Framework for R
sourcetools Tools for Reading, Tokenizing and Parsing R
Code
stringi Character String Processing Facilities
stringr Simple, Consistent Wrappers for Common String
Operations
svglite An 'SVG' Graphics Device
sys Powerful and Reliable Tools for Running System
Commands in R
systemfonts System Native Font Finding
testthat Unit Testing for R
tibble Simple Data Frames
tidyr Tidy Messy Data
tidyselect Select from a Set of Strings
tidyverse Easily Install and Load the 'Tidyverse'
tinytex Helper Functions to Install and Maintain 'TeX
Live', and Compile 'LaTeX' Documents
usethis Automate Package and Project Setup
utf8 Unicode Text Processing
uuid Tools for generating and handling of UUIDs
vctrs Vector Helpers
viridisLite Default Color Maps from 'matplotlib' (Lite
Version)
whisker for R, Logicless Templating
withr Run Code 'With' Temporarily Modified Global
State
xfun Miscellaneous Functions by 'Yihui Xie'
xml2 Parse XML
xopen Open System Files, 'URLs', Anything
xtable Export Tables to LaTeX or HTML
yaml Methods to Convert R Data to YAML and Back
Packages in library '/usr/lib/R/library':
base The R Base Package
boot Bootstrap Functions (Originally by Angelo Canty
for S)
class Functions for Classification
cluster "Finding Groups in Data": Cluster Analysis
Extended Rousseeuw et al.
codetools Code Analysis Tools for R
compiler The R Compiler Package
datasets The R Datasets Package
foreign Read Data Stored by 'Minitab', 'S', 'SAS',
'SPSS', 'Stata', 'Systat', 'Weka', 'dBase', ...
graphics The R Graphics Package
grDevices The R Graphics Devices and Support for Colours
and Fonts
grid The Grid Graphics Package
KernSmooth Functions for Kernel Smoothing Supporting Wand
& Jones (1995)
lattice Trellis Graphics for R
MASS Support Functions and Datasets for Venables and
Ripley's MASS
Matrix Sparse and Dense Matrix Classes and Methods
methods Formal Methods and Classes
mgcv Mixed GAM Computation Vehicle with Automatic
Smoothness Estimation
nlme Linear and Nonlinear Mixed Effects Models
nnet Feed-Forward Neural Networks and Multinomial
Log-Linear Models
parallel Support for Parallel computation in R
rpart Recursive Partitioning and Regression Trees
spatial Functions for Kriging and Point Pattern
Analysis
splines Regression Spline Functions and Classes
stats The R Stats Package
stats4 Statistical Functions using S4 Classes
survival Survival Analysis
tcltk Tcl/Tk Interface
tools Tools for Package Development
utils The R Utils Package
How to list available datasets in R?
data() will list all available datasets.
Also data loads specified datasets.
Here is the list you may expect:
Data sets in package 'datasets':
AirPassengers Monthly Airline Passenger Numbers 1949-1960
BJsales Sales Data with Leading Indicator
BJsales.lead (BJsales)
Sales Data with Leading Indicator
BOD Biochemical Oxygen Demand
CO2 Carbon Dioxide Uptake in Grass Plants
ChickWeight Weight versus age of chicks on different diets
DNase Elisa assay of DNase
EuStockMarkets Daily Closing Prices of Major European Stock
Indices, 1991-1998
Formaldehyde Determination of Formaldehyde
HairEyeColor Hair and Eye Color of Statistics Students
Harman23.cor Harman Example 2.3
Harman74.cor Harman Example 7.4
Indometh Pharmacokinetics of Indomethacin
InsectSprays Effectiveness of Insect Sprays
JohnsonJohnson Quarterly Earnings per Johnson & Johnson Share
LakeHuron Level of Lake Huron 1875-1972
LifeCycleSavings Intercountry Life-Cycle Savings Data
Loblolly Growth of Loblolly pine trees
Nile Flow of the River Nile
Orange Growth of Orange Trees
OrchardSprays Potency of Orchard Sprays
PlantGrowth Results from an Experiment on Plant Growth
Puromycin Reaction Velocity of an Enzymatic Reaction
Seatbelts Road Casualties in Great Britain 1969-84
Theoph Pharmacokinetics of Theophylline
Titanic Survival of passengers on the Titanic
ToothGrowth The Effect of Vitamin C on Tooth Growth in
Guinea Pigs
UCBAdmissions Student Admissions at UC Berkeley
UKDriverDeaths Road Casualties in Great Britain 1969-84
UKgas UK Quarterly Gas Consumption
USAccDeaths Accidental Deaths in the US 1973-1978
USArrests Violent Crime Rates by US State
USJudgeRatings Lawyers' Ratings of State Judges in the US
Superior Court
USPersonalExpenditure Personal Expenditure Data
UScitiesD Distances Between European Cities and Between
US Cities
VADeaths Death Rates in Virginia (1940)
WWWusage Internet Usage per Minute
WorldPhones The World's Telephones
ability.cov Ability and Intelligence Tests
airmiles Passenger Miles on Commercial US Airlines,
1937-1960
airquality New York Air Quality Measurements
anscombe Anscombe's Quartet of 'Identical' Simple Linear
Regressions
attenu The Joyner-Boore Attenuation Data
attitude The Chatterjee-Price Attitude Data
austres Quarterly Time Series of the Number of
Australian Residents
beaver1 (beavers) Body Temperature Series of Two Beavers
beaver2 (beavers) Body Temperature Series of Two Beavers
cars Speed and Stopping Distances of Cars
chickwts Chicken Weights by Feed Type
co2 Mauna Loa Atmospheric CO2 Concentration
crimtab Student's 3000 Criminals Data
discoveries Yearly Numbers of Important Discoveries
esoph Smoking, Alcohol and (O)esophageal Cancer
euro Conversion Rates of Euro Currencies
euro.cross (euro) Conversion Rates of Euro Currencies
eurodist Distances Between European Cities and Between
US Cities
faithful Old Faithful Geyser Data
fdeaths (UKLungDeaths)
Monthly Deaths from Lung Diseases in the UK
freeny Freeny's Revenue Data
freeny.x (freeny) Freeny's Revenue Data
freeny.y (freeny) Freeny's Revenue Data
infert Infertility after Spontaneous and Induced
Abortion
iris Edgar Anderson's Iris Data
iris3 Edgar Anderson's Iris Data
islands Areas of the World's Major Landmasses
ldeaths (UKLungDeaths)
Monthly Deaths from Lung Diseases in the UK
lh Luteinizing Hormone in Blood Samples
longley Longley's Economic Regression Data
lynx Annual Canadian Lynx trappings 1821-1934
mdeaths (UKLungDeaths)
Monthly Deaths from Lung Diseases in the UK
morley Michelson Speed of Light Data
mtcars Motor Trend Car Road Tests
nhtemp Average Yearly Temperatures in New Haven
nottem Average Monthly Temperatures at Nottingham,
1920-1939
npk Classical N, P, K Factorial Experiment
occupationalStatus Occupational Status of Fathers and their Sons
precip Annual Precipitation in US Cities
presidents Quarterly Approval Ratings of US Presidents
pressure Vapor Pressure of Mercury as a Function of
Temperature
quakes Locations of Earthquakes off Fiji
randu Random Numbers from Congruential Generator
RANDU
rivers Lengths of Major North American Rivers
rock Measurements on Petroleum Rock Samples
sleep Student's Sleep Data
stack.loss (stackloss)
Brownlee's Stack Loss Plant Data
stack.x (stackloss) Brownlee's Stack Loss Plant Data
stackloss Brownlee's Stack Loss Plant Data
state.abb (state) US State Facts and Figures
state.area (state) US State Facts and Figures
state.center (state) US State Facts and Figures
state.division (state)
US State Facts and Figures
state.name (state) US State Facts and Figures
state.region (state) US State Facts and Figures
state.x77 (state) US State Facts and Figures
sunspot.month Monthly Sunspot Data, from 1749 to "Present"
sunspot.year Yearly Sunspot Data, 1700-1988
sunspots Monthly Sunspot Numbers, 1749-1983
swiss Swiss Fertility and Socioeconomic Indicators
(1888) Data
treering Yearly Treering Data, -6000-1979
trees Diameter, Height and Volume for Black Cherry
Trees
uspop Populations Recorded by the US Census
volcano Topographic Information on Auckland's Maunga
Whau Volcano
warpbreaks The Number of Breaks in Yarn during Weaving
women Average Heights and Weights for American Women
How to get help on any package?
Crutial in R is to get the list of all members from the package. For that case you use again the help method but you need to set the package:
Example:
help(package='base')
Output:
The output is huge and shows all R methods from the base package.
How to get the list of all R operators?
Example:
?Syntax
This is very easy with the Syntax command from the base package. Syntax outlines R syntax and gives the precedence of operators.
The following unary and binary operators are defined. They are
listed in precedence groups, from highest to lowest.
':: :::' access variables in a namespace
'$ @' component / slot extraction
'[ [[' indexing
'^' exponentiation (right to left)
'- +' unary minus and plus
':' sequence operator
'%any%' special operators (including '%%' and '%/%')
'* /' multiply, divide
'+ -' (binary) add, subtract
'< > <= >= == !=' ordering and comparison
'!' negation
'& &&' and
'| ||' or
'~' as in formulae
'-> ->>' rightwards assignment
'<- <<-' assignment (right to left)
'=' assignment (right to left)
'?' help (unary and binary)
…
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