R Packages and Namespaces

How it works

A package groups R code, data and metadata. A namespace gives functions an explicit origin, and :: selects an exported function without attaching all package names to the search path. This course uses only packages shipped with R. Optional contributed packages should be reviewed and installed deliberately in a suitable library, not fetched automatically by a teaching script.

Run this R example

These examples run locally with R, not PHP, Python or JavaScript. The reviewed baseline is R 4.5.2 on Windows x64/UCRT, using only packages shipped with R. This is a tested version, not a newest-release claim. Install your own R from the official R project; an IDE is optional. Save the complete source as packages-namespaces.R in a separate learning folder and run Rscript --vanilla packages-namespaces.R. Keep code and fictional fixtures separate from a real project.

Bhylu has no R browser runner. There is no Try in playground link because the existing Python and JavaScript editors do not execute R. No package installation, account, network dataset, Apache, MySQL or PHP setting is needed to run these base-R sources.

The complete download uses a local scope, restores its temporary options and treats unexpected warnings as errors. Examples that handle an expected warning do so narrowly. Random examples change only their R process’s RNG state. File examples own their temporary output; figure examples leave their named PNG in the current learning folder and refuse to overwrite it. Use a new empty folder to rerun a figure.

Download the complete packages-namespaces.R · Download all source files with hash checks

For the optional collection downloader, save download-examples.mjs in an empty folder and run node download-examples.mjs. Local preview before publishing uses node download-examples.mjs http://127.0.0.1:8000/examples/r/. It refuses an existing bhylu-r-examples folder and does not install or execute R.

Example

local({
  previous_options <- options(warn = 2, digits = 8, stringsAsFactors = FALSE)
  on.exit(options(previous_options), add = TRUE)
  cat("stats available:", requireNamespace("stats", quietly = TRUE), "\n")
  cat("median:", stats::median(c(8, 10, 12)), "\n")
  cat("package version matches runtime:", as.character(packageVersion("stats")) == as.character(getRversion()), "\n")
  invisible(NULL)
})

cat("stats available:", requireNamespace("stats", quietly = TRUE), "\n")
cat("median:", stats::median(c(8, 10, 12)), "\n")
cat("package version matches runtime:", as.character(packageVersion("stats")) == as.character(getRversion()), "\n")

Expected result

stats available: TRUE
median: 10
package version matches runtime: TRUE

The explicit stats namespace makes the call unambiguous. The version comparison is appropriate for this bundled package in the reviewed distribution; independently released contributed packages follow their own versions. No package installation or network call occurs here.