FAQs about R

The post is R Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

Question: Why R language is named R?
Answer: The name of the R language is based on the first letters of its authors (Robert Gentleman and Ross Ihaka).

Question: What is the R Foundation?
Answer: The R Foundation is a non-profit organization working in the public interest, founded by the members of the R Core Team. This foundation provides support for the R project and other innovations in statistical computing and provides a reference point for individuals, institutions, or commercial enterprises who want to support or interact with the R development community. R foundation also holds and administers the copyright of R language software and its documentation. For more information about R Foundation follow the link https://www.R-project.org/foundation

Question: What is R-Forge?
Answer: R-Forge provides a central platform for the development of R packages, R-related software, etc. It is based on GForge and offers easy access to the best in SVN, daily built and checked R packages, mailing lists, bug tracking, message board or forum, website hosting, permanent file archival, full backups, and total web-based administration. For more information see

  • The R-Forge web page
  • Stefan Theußl and Achim Zeileis (2009), “Collaborative software development using R-Forge”, The R Journal, 1(1), 9-14.

Question: What mailing lists exist for R language?
Answer: There are four mailing lists devoted to R language

  • R-announce: A moderated mailing list for major announcements about the R development and the availability of new R code.
  • R-packages: A moderated mailing list for an announcement on the availability of new or further enhanced contributed packages.
  • R-help: The main R mailing list for discussion and problems and solutions using R, announcements about the development of R, and the availability of new R code. R-help is intended for people who want to use R to solve problems.
  • R-devel: A mailing list for questions and discussions about code development in R language.

Question: What documentation exists for R language?
Answer: For most of the R functions and variables in R online documentation exists and this documentation can be printed on screen by typing help(name) or ?name at the R prompt, where the name is the name of the topic for which help is required. The R documentation can also be made available in PDF and HTML formats and as a hard copy via LaTeX. The up-to-date HTML version of R documentation is always available for web browsers at http://stat.ethz.ch/R-manual.Lot of R books and manuals are also available as R documentation.

How to get help in R follow the link Getting Help in R Language.

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