SSCC - Social Science Computing Cooperative Supporting Statistical Analysis for Research

1.3 The RStudio IDE

1.3.1 Opening RStudio

RStudio is installed on Winstat. RStudio is started on Winstat, or another Windows computer, similarly to other programs.

  • Click the Windows logo button in the lower left corner of the screen.

  • From the menu select All Programs. Then select the RStudio folder. Then select the RStudio program.

  • The navigation to RStudio is displayed in the following image.

RStudio in Window start menu

Figure 1.1: RStudio in Window start menu

1.3.2 RStudio window

RStudio's window looks like the following. Its Window is divided into panes. If no source files are open, the top left pane will not be displayed.

RStudio window

Figure 1.2: RStudio window

The size of the panes can be adjusted by moving the gray lines which separate the four panes. The panes can be minimized or maximized using the icons on the right side of the gray bar at the the top of each pane.

The location of the four panes within the window can be changed using the Pane Layout window. This window is accessed by selecting Global Options from the Tools drop down menu. The tool tabs can be moved between the two tab panes using this window as well. Navigation to the Pane Layout window is shown below

Tools drop down menu for RStudio

Figure 1.3: Tools drop down menu for RStudio

OPtions window for RStudio

Figure 1.4: OPtions window for RStudio

1.3.3 Console pane

The Console pane is on the left side on the bottom. This is where results are displayed. The console tab is opened when RStudio is opened. Additional tabs within this pane are opened if another program type is used, such as an R markdown file. This pane might be full height on the left side if no file is open in the source pane.

1.3.4 Source / Editor pane

The source pane is on the left side on top. This is where you will write and edit your R programs and documents. The pane will have a tab for each open file. This pane is only present if there are files opened in the editor.

1.3.5 The other panes; Environment, History, Git, Files, Packages, Plots, Help

There are two Tab panes on the right side, one on top and the other on the bottom. These panes contains tabs which allow quick access to additional tools. The tabs are for the following functions.

  • Environment displays data objects defined in the current R session.
  • History is a list of prior commands which have been executed.
  • Git is used for version control.
  • Files is a folder browser.
  • Plots displays plots you create.
  • Packages is where packages can be installed and loaded from.
  • Help is where help on R commands can be found.
  • Viewer is where web content can be viewed.