[R] Usage questions

[Jim Lemon]

Paul Johnson wrote:

>
> Can I ask a couple of usage questions?  (RedHat Linux 6.1, R-1.1)
>
> 1. This may just indicate I'm a dinosaur who can't leave SAS behind.
I
> want to write programs and run them with source() to see what they do,

> then I would like to use the "up arrow" to go back through the
commands
> that were in the file, fiddle them, see what they do, and so forth.
Is
> there no way?  SAS has a functionality of a "program editor" screen
> where you can fiddle a  file, run it, then save it when it is the way
> you want. But in R I don't get any command history with source(), so I

> can't experiment with commands.

I often write the commands for analysis in an editor (I happen to use
NEdit) while running R and "source" the file in the R xterm.  I can
correct any errors or refine analyses or plots on the fly and I have a
record of the final commands.  I often have to go back to this file if
the analyses have to be rerun, or if new data is added, etc.,  so I
typically comment as I go.  You can use either the

# this is a comment

style for reference in the source file only, or the

cat("This is a comment\n")

style that will print out the comment in the output.  This is especially
useful when you are "sink"ing the output to another text file.

Jim


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