# Getting Started with R on Nextjournal

<h2 class="pm-node nj-subtitle">Run Code, Create Graphs, Import and Save Data</h2>

<p class="pm-node nj-authors">Micah Dombrowski</p>

![R_logo.svg][nextjournal#file#10b98f23-aa9a-4b9f-9c1e-d7a95f029a5a]

This article covers some basic functions within R, showing you how to get started working with it on the Nextjournal platform.  Links are provided to more in-depth documents covering specific topics and the platform itself.

Add to an article using the *Insert Menu*, which appears when you click the 'Add new content' button, the +-line that appears when hovering the cursor between article content, or when you hit the Return key twice at the end of a text paragraph.  Code cells are language-specific—we'll add an R cell here and check the version:

```r id=e316649e-9cdc-4021-adf0-b5e6d0453030
toString(R.Version()["version.string"])
```

The basic functionality of R on Nextjournal is similar to R in other contexts.  Almost 100 extra packages are installed in the default **[environment](https://nextjournal.com/nextjournal/what-are-environments)**, including the tidyverse, the devtools, feather, and plotly.

This code displays a sorted list of all packages that are installed in the 'R Default' environment:

```r id=c721261e-4cf7-44ac-98c2-97916fb07411
plist <- installed.packages()
t(plist[order(plist[,1]),3])
```

Additional packages that are required for an article should be [installed ](https://nextjournal.com/nextjournal/install-r-packages)in the standard way using the `install.packages()` command, and saved to a new environment.  If an existing article has the setup you need, you can *[transclude](https://nextjournal.com/nextjournal/transclusions)* its environment into your article, or [remix it](https://nextjournal.com/nextjournal/remix).

Below, we demonstrate one method that you can use to [create a plot](https://nextjournal.com/nextjournal/plot-in-r) from the 'iris' dataset using [Plotly](https://plot.ly/r/).

```r id=939b5699-8ece-4a5f-ac99-72e1862d8acb
plot_ly(data=iris, x=~Petal.Length, y=~Petal.Width,
        type="scatter", mode="markers") %>%
  layout(title="Iris Data",
         xaxis=list(title="Iris petal length"),
         yaxis=list(title="Iris petal width"))
```

It is also possible to display many forms of data in the results area below a cell.  Strings and simple variables will be printed, while more complicated structures (arrays, dictionaries) can appear as an expandable tree or a table.

```r id=a67f0d84-826d-47ba-b60f-2016754ab724
iris
```

There are [multiple ways](https://nextjournal.com/nextjournal/data-in-r) to get data in and out of Nextjournal.  The most direct way to load our own data is to upload a file via the *Insert Menu*.

[cubic.csv][nextjournal#file#87cf6987-c365-4528-be66-d723bd814540]

Files uploaded in this way are stored in a persistent, versioned database.  We can access a file in a language cell by inserting a reference to it from the *@-menu*, which appears automatically when you type the '@' symbol.

```r id=740514f0-8dd8-426a-8c5d-0c90e1bd103c
data <- read.csv([reference][nextjournal#reference#1542e448-62f8-4556-b07f-66bbf6cfde44], header=FALSE)
```

You can export results by writing or copying files to the `/results` directory.  Executing the following code makes data available for download.

```r id=b137dec7-6288-4429-99c3-381f38a78de3
write.csv(data, "/results/cubic.csv")
```

[cubic.csv][nextjournal#output#b137dec7-6288-4429-99c3-381f38a78de3#cubic.csv]

Feel free to remix this article, or explore our collections to see [more examples](https://nextjournal.com/collection/highlights) and [learn ](https://nextjournal.com/collection/learn)more about the platform.

We're excited to see what you [create ](https://nextjournal.com/new)with Nextjournal!

[nextjournal#file#10b98f23-aa9a-4b9f-9c1e-d7a95f029a5a]:
<https://nextjournal.com/data/Qmd4HgjTza6G3sCv4uMFuRYPvzf87hXAB7p2ZUT6NTrcTQ?content-type=image/svg%2Bxml&node-id=10b98f23-aa9a-4b9f-9c1e-d7a95f029a5a&filename=R_logo.svg&node-kind=file>

[nextjournal#file#87cf6987-c365-4528-be66-d723bd814540]:
<https://nextjournal.com/data/QmZKognr4KetrMzSBAvzMa2gAoShmUMFeA43i2pC1Nh8Mb?content-type=text/csv&node-id=87cf6987-c365-4528-be66-d723bd814540&filename=cubic.csv&node-kind=file>

[nextjournal#reference#1542e448-62f8-4556-b07f-66bbf6cfde44]:
<#nextjournal#reference#1542e448-62f8-4556-b07f-66bbf6cfde44>

[nextjournal#output#b137dec7-6288-4429-99c3-381f38a78de3#cubic.csv]:
<https://nextjournal.com/data/Qmb4pnAmk5VDau6hBhiorNVpHSTSWo5oPHri9DTnzc9D1B?content-type=text/csv&node-id=b137dec7-6288-4429-99c3-381f38a78de3&filename=cubic.csv&node-kind=output>

<details id="com.nextjournal.article">
<summary>This notebook was exported from <a href="https://nextjournal.com/a/C6K42MXGLmFkWvgDqNpsJJ?change-id=CHMNA1ejaoTKfXY9zBE4sf">https://nextjournal.com/a/C6K42MXGLmFkWvgDqNpsJJ?change-id=CHMNA1ejaoTKfXY9zBE4sf</a></summary>

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```
</details>