Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
31 lines (29 loc) · 4.6 KB

FAQ.md

File metadata and controls

31 lines (29 loc) · 4.6 KB
Raw

Frequently Asked Questions

The FAQ's are compiled from the issues and messages I received from blog posts and emails, etc.

  1. knitr does not work...
  • Please first update all your R packages (use update.packages()) and probably R itself (what is the current R version?), then see if it works; if not, please file an issue to me.
  1. What is the best place to ask questions when the package website is not helpful?
  • Depending what you want to ask, you may use these tools (I keep track of the first three more frequently):
  • (Recommended) StackOverflow: general questions (more experts and quicker answers there)
  • Github issues: bug reports and feature requests
  • knitr mailing list or R-help list: general questions and feedback via email in public
  • Private email is the least recommended way unless there are really private issues
  • Twitter (@xieyihui) or Google+ (+Yihui Xie)
  1. How should I get started?
  1. What is the best editor for writing knitr source documents?
  • For beginners, perhaps RStudio; knitr is also supported in LyX, Emacs/ESS, WinEdt, Tinn-R and a variety of editors.
  1. Where are those prompt characters > and +? I feel uncomfortable reading R output without them.
  • They are removed by default, because I believe they make no sense. This is the reason why I dislike books on R which used > and +; they twist my mind and make my eyes bleed when I read the R code in the books. For those who really want to read R code like > 1+1 instead of 1 + 1, you have the chunk option prompt.
  1. What is the working directory? Can I change my working directory in my code chunks?
  • You'd better not do this. Your working directory is always getwd() (all output files will be written here), but the code chunks are evaluated under the directory where your input document comes from. Changing working directories while running R code is a bad practice in general. See #38 for a discussion. You should also try to avoid absolute directories whenever possible (use relative directories instead), because it makes things less reproducible.
  1. The gray (shading) box is too narrow for my output.
  • No, it is not because the box is too narrow (the box uses the current line width); it is because your output is too wide. Use a smaller width option to avoid text output exceeding the page margin, e.g. options(width = 60) (see #44), and tune the option out.width to make your graphics output stay within the margin (see #171).
  1. How to comment out inline R code like in \Sexpr{code}?
  • see issue #110: you can destroy \Sexpr by %\%Sexpr{code} or comment out R code like \Sexpr{#code}, or just comment out the whole paragraph with % in the beginning of lines.
  1. How can I write a literal code chunk? i.e. write a code chunk which is not parsed and useful for tutorials
  • You need to destroy the chunk header, e.g. add an empty string before the chunk header: \Sexpr{''}<<label, what=ever>>=, or `r ''` ```{r label, what=ever} (#443)
  1. I have done something cool with knitr; could you add a link in your website?
  • Sure! I'd love to; just let me know.
  1. What can I do for you?