Packages in R

R has great number of Packages. These packages help in working with R really amazing. You can utilize a lot of pre-built functions in your application, without creating everything from scratch-

There are two kinds of packages-

Base Packages

These packages are installed when we install R, but are not loaded by default.

Third Party Packages

These need to be downloaded , installed and then loaded in your programs.

Few commonly used packages are-

dplyr: This is used to manipulate data frames.

tidyr: Used to cleaning up information

stringr: String manipulation

lubridate: Date manipulation

ggplot2: For creating graphics

Below is a simple code snippet to install a package and loading it-

install.packages('pacman')
require(pacman)

When we install a package it’s shown in Packages tab on the right. When we hit require(pacman), then the tick appears in checkbox indicating this has been loaded now.

Packages can also be loaded using library() command aswell, however there is a slight difference between both-

require() will output a warning if a package is not installed and then continue to execute the code. library() will output an error and stop the execution of the code

“pacman” is an R package that provides a powerful and user-friendly alternative to base R functions for installing and managing R packages. It stands for “Package Management for R” and is designed to simplify the process of working with packages in R.

Here are some key features and functions provided by the “pacman” package:

1. Simplified Package Installation: The p_load() function allows you to install and load multiple packages in a single line of code.
2. Package Management: The p_install() function helps you to install packages from CRAN, Bioconductor, and GitHub repositories easily.
3. Check Package Availability: The p_available() function allows you to check if a package is available on CRAN, Bioconductor, or GitHub.
4. Package Removal: The p_remove() function lets you uninstall one or more packages.
5. Loading Installed Packages: The p_loaded() function lists currently loaded packages.
6. Package Updates: The p_update() function helps you to update packages to their latest versions.

The “pacman” package is especially useful for beginners and those who want a simpler and more intuitive way of working with R packages. It provides a more straightforward syntax and reduces the need to remember different functions for package management.