Getting Started with R Cheat Sheet
R is one of the most popular programming languages in data science and is widely used across various industries and in academia. Given that it’s open-source, easy to learn, and capable of handling complex data and statistical manipulations, R has become the preferred computing environment for many data scientists today.
This cheat sheet will provide an overview of getting started with R. Use it as a handy, high-level reference for a quick start with R.
Try this Cheat Sheet with DataCamp Workspace
We designed this cheat sheet with the hope of showing what is possible in R. As such, we wanted you to get a first-hand experience in trying out the different functions and terms mentioned in this cheat sheet.
Working with Objects in R
# Returns the structure and information of a given object
str(list(1,2,3)) # This returns a list alongside the numbers in the list
str("Hello World") # This returns a character alongside the contents of the string# Returns the class of a given object
class("Hello World")
class(list(1,2,3))Using Packages in R
R packages are collections of functions and tools developed by the R community. They increase the power of R by improving existing base R functionalities, or by adding new ones.
# Install tidyverse — Workspace comes pre-installed with all top R packages, so you can skip this step ;)
install.packages("tidyverse")# Load packages in R
library(tidyverse)The Working Directory
The working directory is a file path that R will use as the starting point for relative file paths. That is, it's the default location for importing and exporting files. An example of a working directory looks like ”C://file/path"
# Returns your current working directory
getwd() # Changes your current working directory to a desired file path
setwd('/work/files/workspace/')Operators in R
R has multiple operators that allow you to perform a variety of tasks.
Arithmetic Operators in R
Arithmetic operators let you perform arithmetic such as addition and multiplication.
# + lets you sums two variables
1 + 2# - lets you subtract two variables
2 - 1