---
name: "R"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "r"
version: "4.6.2-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/R"
---

# R(1)

a language for data analysis and graphics

## NAME

R - a language for data analysis and graphics

## SYNOPSIS

**R** \[*options*\] \[*\< infile*\] \[*\> outfile*\]\
 **R** *CMD command* \[*arguments*\]

## DESCRIPTION

Start R, a system for statistical computation and graphics, with the specified options, or invoke an R tool via the 'R CMD' interface.

R is a language which bears a passing resemblance to the S language developed at AT&T Bell Laboratories.  It provides support for a variety of statistical and graphical analyses.  R is a true computer language which contains a number of control-flow constructions for iteration and alternation.  It allows users to add additional functionality by defining new functions.

On systems which have the GNU [**readline**(3)](/readline/3.md) library, R will maintain a command history, so that commands can be recalled, edited and re-executed.

## OPTIONS

Most options control what happens at the beginning and at the end of an R session, in particular which files are being read and written, and how much memory is reserved for the R process.

- **-h**, **--help**

  Print short help message and exit

- **--version**

  Print version info and exit

- **--encoding**=*ENC*

  Specify encoding to be used for stdin

**--encoding** ENC

- RHOME

  Print path to R home directory and exit

- **--save**

  Do save workspace at the end of the session

- **--no-save**

  Don't save it

- **--no-environ**

  Don't read the site and user environment files

- **--no-site-file**

  Don't read the site-wide Rprofile

- **--no-init-file**

  Don't read the user R profile

- **--restore**

  Do restore previously saved objects at startup

- **--no-restore-data**

  Don't restore previously saved objects

- **--no-restore-history**

  Don't restore the R history file

- **--no-restore**

  Don't restore anything

- **--vanilla**

  Combine **--no-save**, **--no-restore**, **--no-site-file**, **--no-init-file** and **--no-environ**

- **--no-readline**

  Don't use readline for command-line editing

- **--max-connections**=*N*

  Set max number of connections to N

- **--max-ppsize**=*N*

  Set max size of protect stack to N

- **--min-nsize**=*N*

  Set min number of fixed size obj's ("cons cells") to N

- **--min-vsize**=*N*

  Set vector heap minimum to N bytes; '4M' = 4 MegaB

- **-q**, **--quiet**

  Don't print startup message

- **--silent**

  Same as **--quiet**

- **-s**, **--no-echo**

  Make R run as quietly as possible

- **--interactive**

  Force an interactive session

- **--verbose**

  Print more information about progress

- **-d**, **--debugger**=*NAME*

  Run R through debugger NAME

- **--debugger-args**=*ARGS*

  Pass ARGS as arguments to the debugger

- **-g** TYPE, **--gui**=*TYPE*

  Use TYPE as GUI; possible values are 'X11' (default) and 'Tk'.

- **--arch**=*NAME*

  Specify a sub-architecture

- **--args**

  Skip the rest of the command line

- **-f** FILE, **--file**=*FILE*

  Take input from 'FILE'

- **-e** EXPR

  Execute 'EXPR' and exit

FILE may contain spaces but not shell metacharacters.

### Commands:

- BATCH

  Run R in batch mode

- COMPILE

  Compile files for use with R

- SHLIB

  Build shared library for dynamic loading

- INSTALL

  Install add-on packages

- REMOVE

  Remove add-on packages

- build

  Build add-on packages

- check

  Check add-on packages

- LINK

  Front-end for creating executable programs

- Rprof

  Post-process R profiling files

- Rdconv

  Convert Rd format to various other formats

- Rd2pdf

  Convert Rd format to PDF

- Rd2txt

  Convert Rd format to pretty text

- Stangle

  Extract S/R code from Sweave documentation

- Sweave

  Process Sweave documentation

- Rdiff

  Diff R output ignoring headers etc

- config

  Obtain configuration information about R

- javareconf

  Update the Java configuration variables

- rtags

  Create Emacs-style tag files from C, R, and Rd files

Please use 'R CMD command **--help**' to obtain further information about the usage of 'command'.

Options **--arch**, **--no-environ**, **--no-init-file**, **--no-site-file** and **--vanilla** can be placed between R and CMD, to apply to R processes run by 'command'

## REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs at \<https://bugs.R-project.org\>.

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2026 The R Foundation for Statistical Computing Platform: x86\_64-pc-linux-gnu

R is free software and comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. You are welcome to redistribute it under the terms of the GNU General Public License versions 2 or 3. For more information about these matters see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

## SEE ALSO

The full documentation for R is provided by a collection of Texinfo manuals and individual help for R objects which is also available on-line.

Start R and type **?***topic* at the R prompt to obtain on-line information for \`*topic*'.

If the processed manuals have been installed they will be available as DVI and/or PDF files in the doc/manual subdirectory of the documentation directory tree (default \`R RHOME\`).

If the **info** program and the R manuals are installed on your system, typing  **info -f R-intro**, **info -f R-data**,  **info -f R-exts**, **info -f R-FAQ**,  **info -f R-lang** and **info -f R-ints** should give you access to \`\`An Introduction to R'' (the basic manual), the \`\`R Data Import/Export'' Guide, the \`\`R Extension Writer's Guide'', the \`\`R FAQ'', the \`\`The R Language Definition'', and the \`\`R Internals''.