R 4 Quick Syntax Reference

This handy reference book detailing the intricacies of R covers version 4.x features, including numerous and significant changes to syntax, strings, reference counting, grid units, and more.

Starting with the basic structure of R, the book takes you on a journey through the terminology used in R and the syntax required to make R work. You will find looking up the correct form for an expression quick and easy. Some of the new material includes information on RStudio, S4 syntax, working with character strings, and an example using the Twitter API.

With a copy of the R 4 Quick Syntax Reference in hand, you will find that you are able to use the multitude of functions available in R and are even able to write your own functions to explore and analyze data.

What You Will Learn

• Discover the modes and classes of R objects and how to use them
• Use both packaged and user-created functions in R 
• Import/export data and create new data objects in R
• Create descriptive functions and manipulate objects in R
• Take advantage of flow control and conditional statements
• Work with packages such as base, stats, and graphics

Who This Book Is For

Those with programming experience, either new to R, or those with at least some exposure to R but who are new to the latest version.

Table of Contents

Part I: R Basics

Chapter 1: Downloading R and RStudio and Setting Up a File System

Chapter 2: The R Prompt and the RStudio Main Menus and Subwindows

Chapter 3: Assignments and Operators

Part II: Kinds of Objects

Chapter 4: Types and Modes of Objects

Chapter 5: Classes of Objects

Part III: Functions

Chapter 6: Packaged Functions

Chapter 7: Scripts, User-Created Functions, and S4 and Reference Class Methods

Chapter 8: How to Use a Script or Function

Part IV: I/O and Manipulating Objects

Chapter 9: Importing and Creating Data

Chapter 10: Exporting from R

Chapter 11: Descriptive Functions and Manipulating Objects

Part V: Flow Control

Chapter 12: Flow Control

Chapter 13: Examples of Flow Control

Chapter 14: The ifelse( ) and switch( ) Functions

Part VI: Some Common Functions, Packages, and Techniques

Chapter 16: The base, stats, and graphics Packages

Chapter 17: Tricks of the Trade

About the Author

Margot Tollefson is a self-employed consulting statistician residing in the tiny town of Stratford in the corn and soybean fields of north-central Iowa. She started using the S-Plus language in the early 1990s and was happy to switch to R about ten years ago. Margot enjoys writing her own functions in R – to do plots and simulations, as well as to implement custom modeling and use published statistical methods. She earned her graduate degrees in statistics from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.