Packages

When you download and install R for the first time, you are installing the Base R software. Base R will contain most of the functions you’ll use on a daily basis like mean() and hist(). However, only functions written by the original authors of the R language will appear here. If you want to access data and code written by other people, you’ll need to install it as a package. An R package is simply a bunch of data, from functions, to help menus, to vignettes (examples), stored in one neat package.

Installing Packages

Installing packages is easy! Use the function install.packages() to add any package not inherent to R.

library() function

Once you’ve installed a package, R will cache the package until you decide to uninstall or the package is no longer supported. However, you will need to “call up” your package each time you start a new session with R. You’ll do this by using the library() function.