[R] Comprehesive Package/Library list?

[A.J. Rossini]

Al Piszcz <apiszcz at solarrain.com> writes:

> Is there a list of all contributed R libraries available through CRAN?
> Ideally it would include a one or two line description.
>
> I am looking for a packages() command similar to library()
> but that would access the CRAN repository and provide a
> listing of the current libraries, and version.
>
> example:
> http://www.cpan.org/modules/01modules.index.html

Assuming that you have the tools (html2text), a truly awful and ugly
hack is:

CRAN.packages <- function(tempfile=tempfile("cranpack")) {
    packages <- readLines("http://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/PACKAGES.html")
    write(packages,file=tempfile)
    system(paste("html2text",tempfile))
}

I won't claim authorship of such a hack.  Don't blame me.  There is a
cleaner way.

best,
-tony

-- 
A.J. Rossini     			
rossini at u.washington.edu            http://www.analytics.washington.edu/ 
Biomedical and Health Informatics   University of Washington
Biostatistics, SCHARP/HVTN          Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
UW   :              FAX=206-543-3461 | moving soon to a permanent office
FHCRC: 206-667-7025 FAX=206-667-4812 | Voicemail is pretty sketchy/use Email

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