How to Install R and R Studio

Installing R and RStudio is the first step to working with R for data analysis, statistical modeling, and visualizations. This article will guide you through the installation process on both Windows and Ubuntu operating systems.

Why use R Studio

RStudio is an open-source integrated development environment (IDE) for R. It provides several features that enhance productivity and ease of use:

• IDE for R: Syntax highlighting, code completion, and debugging tools.
• Project Management: Organizes scripts, data, and visualizations for better workflow.
• Data Visualization: Integrates with powerful plotting libraries like ggplot2.
• Package Management: Easily install and manage R packages via CRAN.
• R Markdown: Seamlessly create reports combining code, text, and graphics.
• Collaboration: Supports Git and RStudio Server for project sharing and team work

Installing R and RStudio on Windows

To Install R and R Studio on Windows we will have to download R and RStudio with the following steps.

• First, you need to set up an R environment in your local machine. Visit the official CRAN website:

• You have to download both the applications first go with R Base and then install RStudio. after click on install R you will get a new page like this.

• Here we can select the linux, mac or windows any one according to users system. you have to click on for which you want to install.

• Now click on the link shown in the image above.So R base start downloading and after again go to main page and download and click on Install RStudio.

Install R and R Studio Using the Installation Wizard

Step 1: After downloading R for the Windows platform, install it by double-clicking it.  

Step 2: Download R Studio from their official page. Note: It is free of cost (under AGPL licensing).  

Step 3: After downloading, you will get a file named "RStudio-1.x.xxxx.exe" in your Downloads folder. 

Step 4: Double-click the installer, and install the software. 

Step 5: Search for RStudio in the Window search bar on Taskbar.

Step 6: Your installation is successful. 

Installing R and R Studio on Ubuntu

Installing R Studio on Ubuntu has steps similar to Windows: 

1. Using Terminal

Step 1: Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) in Ubuntu.

Step 2: Update the package's cache. 

sudo apt-get update

Step 3: Install R environment. 

sudo apt -y install r-base

Check for the version of R package using

R --version

Step 4: Check R installation by using the following command. 

user@Ubuntu:~$ R

(Note that R version should be 3.6+ to be able to install all packages like tm, e1071, etc.). If there is issue with R version, see the end of the post.

Step 5: Exit the terminal.

2. Using Ubuntu software Center

Step 1: Open Ubuntu Software Center.

Step 2: Search for r-base.

Step 3: Click install. 

Steps to Install Rstudio on Ubuntu  

Step 1: Install gdebi package to install .deb packages easily.

sudo add-apt-repository universe
sudo apt-get install gdebi-core

Step 2: Go to R Studio downloads and select the latest *.deb package available under Ubuntu 18/Debian 10.

Step 3: Navigate to the Downloads folder in the local machine.

$ cd Downloads/
$ ls
rstudio-1.2.5042-amd64.deb

Step 4: Install using gdebi package.

sudo gdebi rstudio-1.2.5042-amd64.deb

Step 5: Run the RStudio using Terminal

user@Ubuntu:~/Downloads/ $ rstudio

Alternatively, use the menu to search for Rstudio.

Step 6: Test the R Studio using the basic "Hello world!" command and exit.

Input : print('Hello world!')
Output : [1] "Hello world!"

Alternatively, RStudio can be installed through Ubuntu Software as well, but using the above approach generally guarantees the latest version is installed. 

If there are issues with the R version getting downloaded or the previously installed version is older, check R version with 

R --version

Now, Run the following commands in Terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T)  

Add the key to secure APT from the CRAN package list:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings

curl -fsSL https://cloud.r-project.org/bin/linux/ubuntu/marutter_pubkey.asc | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/cran.asc

Add the latest CRAN repository to the repository list. (This is for Ubuntu 18.04 specifically):

echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/cran.asc] https://cloud.r-project.org/bin/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs)-cran40/" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cran.list

Update the package cache:

sudo apt update

Install the r-base package:

sudo apt install r-base