[SOLVED] R: Rprofile updated when new R version installed

R: Rprofile updated when new R version installed

When I installed a new version of R, my customised.Rprofile is not loaded. The R GUI starts using the new version and its corresponding .Rprofile.

Is there a way to still using the customised regardless of any update in the R version? A follow up question would be, can an R package load a different .Rprofile?

Solution

You should read the help page ?.Rprofile

To summarise:

R first checks for a site-wide configuration file. To find that file, run

(site_path = R.home(component = "home"))
fname = file.path(site_path, "Rprofile.site")
file.exists(fname)

Then looks for .Rprofile in your current working directory - getwd()
```
fname = file.path(getwd(), ".Rprofile")
file.exists(fname)
```
Then looks for an .Rprofile in your home area.
```
file.exists("~/.Rprofile")
```

If you have an .Rprofile in you current working directory, R won't use the file in you home area.

Regarding your follow-up question. The .Rprofile is just an R file, so can be loaded via source and hence in a package. However, this is non-standard and should be avoided.