CRAN packages can be easily installed using the install.packages function. For example, the stringr package provides a set of modern functions for manipulating and formatting strings.
To use stringr, we first need to install the package typing into your script or console:
install.packages("stringr")and click run or hit return, respectively. If your user account has permission to install packages then you should see something like:
trying URL 'https://cloud.r-project.org/bin/macosx/big-sur-arm64/contrib/4.4/stringr_1.5.1.tgz'
Content type 'application/x-gzip' length 314273 bytes (306 KB)
==================================================
downloaded 306 KB
The downloaded binary packages are in
/var/folders/bq/2w1p57q54r78thfjpfy2cbrc0000gp/T//RtmpQ8lR4N/downloaded_packagesNotice that this will automatically get the right package for your operating system (in this example macosx). Also note that you only have to do this once, as once installed, this package is already available. If you have permission issues installing new packages in your system, you can try installing them in your user space with
install.packages("stringr", lib="/Users/ab12345/rlib")where /Users/ab12345/rlib is a folder in your user space; or contact your IT service for help.
R package management is handled directly within the language, what makes makes easier to install packages and keep them up to date.
To update a package you can simply run install.packages again, e.g. to update stringr to the newest version, just type:
install.packages("stringr")You can get a list of all installed packages via installed.packages(), e.g.
# note that we are printing only a few of them
installed.packages()[10:30] [1] "bslib" "cachem" "callr" "cellranger" "class"
[6] "cli" "clipr" "cluster" "codetools" "colorspace"
[11] "compiler" "conflicted" "cpp11" "crayon" "curl"
[16] "data.table" "datasets" "DBI" "dbplyr" "digest"
[21] "dplyr" You can get a list of all packages for which new versions are available using old.packages(), e.g.
old.packages() Installed Built ReposVer Repository
boot "1.3-30" "4.4.0" "1.3-31" "https://cran.rstudio.com/src/contrib"
foreign "0.8-86" "4.4.0" "0.8-87" "https://cran.rstudio.com/src/contrib"
glue "1.7.0" "4.4.0" "1.8.0" "https://cran.rstudio.com/src/contrib"
KernSmooth "2.23-22" "4.4.0" "2.23-24" "https://cran.rstudio.com/src/contrib"
MASS "7.3-60.2" "4.4.0" "7.3-61" "https://cran.rstudio.com/src/contrib"
Matrix "1.7-0" "4.4.0" "1.7-1" "https://cran.rstudio.com/src/contrib"
nlme "3.1-164" "4.4.0" "3.1-166" "https://cran.rstudio.com/src/contrib"
survival "3.5-8" "4.4.0" "3.7-0" "https://cran.rstudio.com/src/contrib"You can update all packages for which updates are available using update.packages(). You can add the option update.packages(ask=FALSE) to update everything without prompting. Note that updating all of your packages could take a while if you haven’t done it recently.
update.packages()boot :
Version 1.3-30 installed in /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.4-arm64/Resources/library
Version 1.3-31 available at https://cran.rstudio.com
Update? (Yes/no/cancel)