[R] Setting up a .Rprofile file

[Jeff Newmiller]

OP is on some variant of MSWindows, which doesn't use a Bash shell, so the syntax of that example is a bit foreign, Enrico. 

I would say that the concept of using .Rprofile to change directories is ill-advised, since having ALL of your R work in one place is not sustainable. However you can make one or more clickable icons (shortcuts) on your desktop or start menu with the Startup Directory property set to the directory you want to work in. You can modify a shortcut made by the installer, or  hold the Alt key down while dragging the RGui.exe icon to some convenient place, and use the right-click popup menu to change Properties.

I used to create a .RData file in the directory I wanted to work in and double click that to get R started in that directory, but the side effects of loading objects into the R global environment can really confuse things and create puzzling behaviour if that file gets changed. These days I use RStudio and double click on a .Rproj (project) file to get RStudio going with the directory set to where that file is without mucking with the global environment. 
-- 
Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity.

On March 24, 2017 3:03:34 AM PDT, Enrico Schumann <es at enricoschumann.net> wrote:
>On Fri, 24 Mar 2017, Bruce Ratner PhD writes:
>
>> Henrico:
>> Thanks for quick reply.
>> However, one last question:
>> If I want to change working directory, and put setwd() in the
>Rprofile
>> file, logically R will not know where the be work directory is,
>> correct?
>>
>> So, should I install R in my preferred working directory?
>>
>> Thanks again, in advance. 
>> Bruce
>>
>
>Hm, I think I don't understand what you mean here. Where R
>is installed and where it is run are (usually) not the same
>places.
>
>Let $ be a shell prompt, and let > be the R
>prompt. Then:
>
>  $ cd /tmp/
>  $ R -q
>  > getwd()
>  [1] "/tmp"
>  > q("no")
>  $ cd ~/Documents/
>  $ R -q
>  > getwd()
>  [1] "~/Documents"
>
>Now I write into my "~./Rprofile" file:
>
>  setwd("~/Downloads")
>
>$ cd /tmp/
>$ R -q
>> getwd()
>[1] "~/Downloads"
>
>
>But maybe I am completely misunderstanding what you
>mean....
>
>Kind regards
>     Enrico
>
>
>>
>>
>>> On Mar 24, 2017, at 3:48 AM, Enrico Schumann <es at enricoschumann.net>
>wrote:
>>> 
>>> On Thu, 23 Mar 2017, Bruce Ratner PhD writes:
>>> 
>>>> Hi R'ers:
>>>> I would like to setting up a .Rprofile file with
>>>> setwd("C:/R_WorkDir")
>>>> set.seed(12345)
>>>> options (prompt "> R ")
>>>> 
>>>> ---
>>>> Can you help providing the code or instructive link,
>>>> I've find many links, but I can't figure it out?
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks.
>>>> Bruce 
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> Quoting from ?Startup:
>>> 
>>> ,----
>>> | [...] unless ‘--no-init-file’ was given, R searches
>>> | for a user profile, a file of R code.  The path of
>>> | this file can be specified by the ‘R_PROFILE_USER’
>>> | environment variable (and tilde expansion will be
>>> | performed).  If this is unset, a file called
>>> | ‘.Rprofile’ is searched for in the current directory
>>> | or in the user's home directory (in that order).  The
>>> | user profile file is sourced into the workspace.
>>> `----
>>> 
>
>-- 
>Enrico Schumann
>Lucerne, Switzerland
>http://enricoschumann.net
>
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