IDE on R Views

March '17 Tips and Tricks

Fri, 31 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This month’s Tips and Tricks focus is on file navigation. Many of these tips are straightforward - more tip than trick - but they can save quite a bit of time and frustration.

Open Recent

Please don’t spend time navigating through your folder structure to find a recent project or file.

Go to File/Function

RStudio automatically indexes all open files as well as files in the current project. The index includes function calls and objects within the files. To search the index, enter a search string in the Go to file/function window in the main toolbar or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + ..

The search supports fuzzy matching as long as the search string is in the correct order. For example, tiptric will match files and function names like march-tips-and-tricks.Rmd.

Find in File

In addition to the index, RStudio can quickly search the text of any file(s) for a string or regular expression. Open the Find in Files dialogue by navigating through the toolbar Edit -> Find in Files or using the keyboard shortcut Cmd / Ctrl + Shift + F.

Tabs

Close All and Close All Except Current

If you’re like me, you often end up with a whole bunch of files open and the number of tabs in the source pane causes anxiety. Don’t click through the tabs closing each individually.

Search for a Tab

If you don’t get anxiety from multiple tabs, you may find the keyboard shortcuts for switching between tabs helpful. My favorite is Ctrl + Shift + . which opens a search dialogue for the currently open tabs.

Set Working Directory

Sometimes I find myself inside a file and I have no idea where that file is. In this scenario, I often use the following trick to orient myself:

The other options, To Project Directory and To File Pane Location are also very helpful. These commands do not have key bindings by default, but you can create your own keyboard shortcuts for these actions: Tools -> Modify Keyboard Shortcuts...

File Pane: Go To Working Directory

After mastering tip 5, you can easily navigate from the file pane to the working directory:

File Pane: Go To Project Root Directory

Finally, it is really easy to go to the root of a project directory:

Be sure to follow @rstudiotips for more frequent updates. Tweet us @rstudio if there’s a file navigation trick you wish we’d implement!

February '17 Tips and Tricks

Fri, 03 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

If you spend time with an excellent programmer, one thing that immediately jumps out is how quickly she can write code. It often appears to be magic, the number of keystrokes simply can’t equal the number of characters on the screen. The secret: it doesn’t! Most programmers use a series of tricks to save the hassle of writing boilerplate code. This month, my personal goal was to spend less time typing, even if it required slowing down to master these tricks. In this post, I’ll focus on one of the easiest and most flexible tools at your disposal: code snippets. (Astute readers will note that I’ve mentioned code snippets before. They deserve the extra attention!)

Code snippets are a common programming tool similar to keyboard shortcuts. A snippet of text, usually a few characters long, is used as a shortcut to create a larger piece of boilerplate code. Tab navigation enables jumping through the boilerplate code to locations where customization is required.

For example, one of my favorite code snippets is for creating a function. The template of an R function looks like:

functionName <- function(arguments) {
  code 
}

The boilerplate - not worth typing - is:

 <- function( ) {
 
}

In RStudio, the code snippet for functions is fun. Typing fun and pressing Tab will provide an auto-complete suggestion for the snippet. Typing fun and pressing Shift + Tab inserts the snippet directly. As a general typing rule, keeping your hands on the middle row of the keyboard will speed things up. I hit Shift with my right pinky and Tab with my left.

After inserting the boilerplate code, the cursor is placed to left of the <-. You can then quickly type the name of the function. Pressing Tab places the cursor in between the parenthesis. Pressing Tab again places the cursor in between the brackets. This allows you to fill in the remaining portions of the function template quickly.

Type fun and Shift + Tab:

HERE <- function() {

}

Pressing Tab Once

 <- function(HERE) {
 
}

Pressing Tab Twice

 <- function() {
 HERE
 }

Accessing Snippets

RStudio comes with many built-in snippets. To access these snippets, navigate to Tools -> Global Options -> Code and press Edit Snippets.

The menu will show all of the defined snippets. Consider the definition for the function snippet:

snippet fun
	${1:name} <- function(${2:variables}) {
		${0}
	}

The snippet starts by defining the character shortcut fun. The definition includes the boilerplate code. The Tab behavior is defined using ${1} notation. The code snippet help page describes the syntax in more detail.

A Few Examples

`ts`

Adds a time-stamped comment.

# Mon Feb 20 07:34:03 2017 ------------------------------

`if`

Adds the skeleton of an if statement

if () {

}

`mat`

Adds the skeleton for defining a matrix.

matrix( , nrow = , ncol = )

There are code snippets for other languages as well.

Creating Snippets

Code snippets are powerful because they can be customized and created. If you find yourself repeatedly typing the same code, create a snippet. The menu of snippets in RStudio is editable. To create or modify a snippet, add your changes to the menu and click Save.

Once you’ve created a handful of useful code snippets, it would be generous to share. The snippr package makes this process easy.

This gist contains two of my favorites: a code snippet for creating a single file Shiny app, and a code snippet to start a ggplot.

Shiny:

snippet shiny
	library(shiny)
	ui <- fluidPage(
		${1:ui}
	)
	
	server <- function(input, output, session){
	  ${2:server}
	}
	shinyApp(ui = ui, server = server)

ggplot2:

snippet gg
	ggplot(${1:data}, aes(${2:aes})) + 
	  geom_${3:geom}()

What are your favorite snippets?

January '17 Tips and Tricks

Fri, 27 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This month’s collection of Tips and Tricks comes from an excellent talk given at the 2017 RStudio::Conf in Orlando by RStudio Software Engineer Kevin Ushey. The slides from his talk are embedded below and cover features from autocompletion to R Markdown shortcuts. Use the left and right arrow keys to change slides.

Enjoy!

December '16 RStudio Tips and Tricks

Fri, 09 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Here is this month’s collection of RStudio Tips and Tricks. Thank you to those who responded to last month’s post; many of your tips are included below! Be sure to subscribe to @rstudiotips on Twitter for more.

This month’s tips fall into two categories: Keyboard Shortcuts and Easier R Markdown.

Keyboard Shortcuts

The RStudio IDE is built upon “hooks”. Hooks are actions that the IDE can take. For instance, there is a hook to create a new file. Most users interact with hooks with point-and-click interactions. (RStudio toolbar -> new file or File -> New File). But, there is an alternative! All of these hooks have been surfaced to end users and can be bound to a keyboard shortcut. (Some of these actions are “secret” - they aren’t exposed through point-and-click options.)

Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

To view the complete list of actions, the current keybindings, and to customize keybindings, go to: Tools -> Modify Keyboard Shortcuts.

Define shortcuts for code chunk navigation using the previous tip. For example, Alt+Cmd+Down for Next Chunk and Alt+Cmd+Up for Previous Chunk.

Assignment Operator

Use Alt+- (press Alt at the same time as pressing -). This adds the assignment operator and spacing.

Pipe Operator

Use Cmd+Shift+m (for Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+m (for Windows). This adds the pipe operator %>% and spacing.

Easier R Markdown

R Markdown Options

R Markdown output formats include arguments specified in the YAML header. Don’t worry about remembering all of the key-value pairs; in RStudio, you can access and change the most common through a user-interface.

Spell Checker

Use the built-in spell checker when writing a R Markdown document. (Code chunks are automatically ignored.)

SQL Code Chunks

Execute SQL queries against database connections directly in R Markdown chunks.

R Markdown Websites

Are you building a website with R Markdown? Any RStudio project with an R Markdown website will include a Build Website option in the build pane.

What’s your favorite RStudio Tip?

RStudio IDE Easy Tricks You Might've Missed

Fri, 11 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

The RStudio IDE reached version 1.0 this month. The IDE has come a long way since the initial release 5 and a half years ago. Many major features have been built: projects, package building tools, notebooks. During that same period, often hidden in the shadows, a growing list of smaller features has been changing lives. In celebration of version 1.0 this post hopes to spread fanfare for a few of these easy-to-miss tools.

Tearable Panes

Tearable panes are anything but terrible. This feature allows users to tear off data view panes and source panes facilitating the use of multiple screens.

Command History

In the console it is possible to scroll through the command history by clicking Ctrl/Cmd and ↑. The command history will be filtered as code is typed into the console:

History Pane

The history pane shows a searchable list of commands that have been run. Commands can be written to the source pane or the console. No more copy and paste from the console to a script!

Rename in Scope

This feature makes it easy to rename all instances of a variable. The tool is context aware; changing ’m’ to ‘m1’ won’t change ‘mtcars’ to ‘m1tcars’.

Gallery and Satellite View in Notebooks

A new feature built into R Notebooks, a code chunk that produces multiple plots will produce a gallery. The plots can be viewed by toggling between thumbnails. The gallery can be expanded into a new satellite window for closer inspection.

Code Outline

Save time scrolling with the code outline. This feature works for R Notebooks and traditional R scripts. In R Notebooks sections are delimited by the R Markdown headers. In R scripts sections are delimited by section comments (Try Code -> Insert Section).

Code Snippets

Code snippets are a shortcut to insert common boilerplate code. For instance, type fun and then Tab to insert the skeleton code for a function definition. Then hit Tab to replace the necessary components. In addition to a rich set of defaults, custom code snippets can also be created. Learn more.

Many people know of RStudio’s rich set of tab complete options for functions and function arguments. Tab complete can also help find files and remove the hassle of writing out long path locations. Hit tab in between two double quotes (” “) to open a file explorer.

Jump To Function Definition

Want to dig into the innards of a function? With the cursor on a function press F2 to jump to the function definition, even for functions in a package.

These are just a few of my favorite tricks. A comprehensive list is available in the RStudio IDE Cheatsheet or follow @rstudiotips on Twitter to learn a few tricks every week.

What’s your favorite RStudio tip?

IDE on R Views

March '17 Tips and Tricks

Open Recent

Go to File/Function

Find in File

Tabs

Set Working Directory

File Pane: Go To Working Directory

File Pane: Go To Project Root Directory

February '17 Tips and Tricks

Accessing Snippets

A Few Examples

`ts`

`if`

`mat`

Creating Snippets

January '17 Tips and Tricks

December '16 RStudio Tips and Tricks

Keyboard Shortcuts

Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

Code Chunk Navigation

Assignment Operator

Pipe Operator

Easier R Markdown

R Markdown Options

Spell Checker

SQL Code Chunks

R Markdown Websites

RStudio IDE Easy Tricks You Might've Missed

Tearable Panes

Command History

History Pane

Rename in Scope

Gallery and Satellite View in Notebooks

Code Outline

Code Snippets

File Navigation

Jump To Function Definition

IDE on R Views

March '17 Tips and Tricks

Open Recent

Go to File/Function

Find in File

Tabs

Set Working Directory

File Pane: Go To Working Directory

File Pane: Go To Project Root Directory

February '17 Tips and Tricks

Accessing Snippets

A Few Examples

ts

if

mat

Creating Snippets

Sharing Snippets

January '17 Tips and Tricks

December '16 RStudio Tips and Tricks

Keyboard Shortcuts

Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

Code Chunk Navigation

Assignment Operator

Pipe Operator

Easier R Markdown

R Markdown Options

Spell Checker

SQL Code Chunks

R Markdown Websites

RStudio IDE Easy Tricks You Might've Missed

Tearable Panes

Command History

History Pane

Rename in Scope

Gallery and Satellite View in Notebooks

Code Outline

Code Snippets

File Navigation

Jump To Function Definition

`ts`

`if`

`mat`