ViM and R

Ubuntu Linux

This guide has been updated for Hardy Heron (8.04)

Installing R and vim-r-plugin

Install R with the following command:

sudo apt-get install r-base

Then download the newest vim-r-plugin package from http://www.uft.uni-bremen.de/chemie/ranke/debs/sid-jr/vim-r-plugin_0.5-79_all.deb with the following command:

wget http://www.uft.uni-bremen.de/chemie/ranke/debs/sid-jr/vim-r-plugin_0.5-79_all.deb

We’ll now use the gdebi GUI to install the package because it will install the dependencies for us

gdebi-gtk vim-r-plugin_0.5-79_all.deb

Then use the new vim-addon-manager utility to add the plugin to vim

sudo vim-addons -w install r-plugin

Using Vim and R

First, open vim as you normally would. Then, run the vim command set ft=r. This will tell vim you’re working on a R file. If you’re using the .vimrc file provided on the [[Vim and R]] page then this will be done automatically for you whenever you open a *.r file. Now, press the F2 key. This will open an instance of R in a separate window that you can now interact with. After typing a series of R commands in vim you can run all of them in R by pressing the F5 key, or you can just run a few lines of the file by highlighting the lines you want in Visual mode and pressing the r key.

Issues

• If you’re getting the following error, Error in X11() : could not find any X11 fonts**, then you need to change the font paths in the “Files” section of your xorg.conf file from .../X11/fonts/... to .../fonts/X11/...
• The vim-r plugin brings R up in an xterm console. To copy/paste, highlight the text you want from R, then click the middle mouse button to paste.

A version of this page is available on Appalachian State University’s Association of Computing Machinery wiki.