How To Update R In Mac

One of the first steps to learning R is to have information technology downloaded and installed on your computer. In this postal service I'll show you how to do that and how to download and install RStudio—a central tool for using R, and how I practice all my work and tutorials.

If you want to follow along with a video tutorial, y'all can click on the image below where you lot can sentry the first lesson in my full course on the Basics of R (for ecologists).

Video thumbnail for how to install R and Rstudio

For starters, R is a gratis open-source programming language used for organizing, analyzing, and visualizing data. Its versatility is highlighted past the large number of user-created packages that it comes with, which provide useful functions and guides that anyone can use (e.m., found on CRAN). Then R is the programming language itself, and it comes with an surroundings or console that can read and execute your lawmaking. You could code in R without using RStudio, equally you can come across in the image below. That's what the patently R panel looks like; I simply loaded upward some data, viewed the kickoff few rows, and renamed the columns.

Image showing the plain R console, with the trees dataset loaded up

Past comparison, RStudio is a more versatile IDE, or Integrated Evolution Environs. Well-nigh people who use R also use RStudio because it provides a clean point-and-click dashboard of tools where you can type your code, view your figures, organize your data, variables, and files, as well as viewing the help window. In comparison to RStudio, the basic R IDE/console is extremely basic and doesn't provide as many accessible tools equally RStudio does.

Image showing the RStudio console and its greater complexity and number of tools

If you are installing R and RStudio for the first fourth dimension:

To download R, become here. Choose the download link that corresponds to your figurer. I have a Mac, and so I clicked that link.

Image showing download options for R.

You can download RStudio hither, and yous want to cull "RStudio Desktop".

The important thing when installing R and RStudio is that you lot need to install R before you install RStudio. If y'all do it in the reverse order, yous volition likely run into errors. All you'll need to practise is open the files y'all downloaded for R and RStudio, and the installation process should begin on its own.

For Mac users, there's as well something called XQuartz, which y'all might not need for basic coding in R, but which might be helpful downward the line for running certain packages. You tin can download XQuartz hither. Similarly, if you just open the downloaded file, XQuartz should install on its ain.

If yous want to update R and RStudio:

There are a few ways you can bank check your version of R and see whether or not information technology needs to be updated. One manner is to run the actual R program. There, you tin can go to the "R" menu and click "Check for R Updates" (run across image below). If you practice that, R will tell you the current version you're on, and whether or not there is a more updated version that you can download (circled in blue).

Alternatively, if you're in RStudio, you can type and run "sessionInfo()" in the R Console. The first line that the console returns is the version of R that you lot're using. Yous can then download and install the latest version of R here for Mac, and hither for Windows.

If you're using a Windows computer, you may need to uninstall R to update it. Y'all tin discover a quick guide for that here. Another great choice for Windows users is to apply a package called installr (unfortunately only bachelor for Windows, @Mac users). All you need to practice is install "installr", load upwardly the library, and run the lawmaking "updateR()". This function will check for newer versions and volition guide you through the update procedure.

Image showing cursor hovering over the R menu and Check for R Updates. The text also shows the version of R that the user is on, and it shows that they need to update their R software.

If you lot want to update to the latest version of RStudio, hover over "Assist" on the pinnacle menu bar of your Mac, and click "Check for Updates". And then, quit the RStudio plan, get to the RStudio website, and download and install the latest version. Image showing a cursor mousing over Now you should have the latest versions of R and RStudio on your computer. I promise this tutorial was helpful!

As a quick note: my "Basics of R" form uses R version 4.0.ii and RStudio version ane.3.959. There shouldn't be any incompatibility issues if you're running a slightly different version, merely it is normally best to stay up to date with your software!

If you liked this mail service and want to learn more, then cheque out my online class on the complete basics of R for environmental: