Restart R within Rstudio

Question

I'm trying to call a simple python script from within R using system2(). I've read some information I found vague that said if 'too much' memory is used, it won't work.

If I load a large dataset and use some information in it to use as arguments to pass into system2(), it will only work if I manually click "Restart R" in call Rstudio.

What I want:

df <- read.csv('some_large_file.csv')
###extracting some info called 'args_vec'
for(arg in args_vec){
    system2('python', args)
}

This won't work as is. The for loop is simply passed over.

What I need:

df <- read.csv('some_large_file.csv')
###extracting some info called 'args_vec'
###something that 'restarts' R
for(arg in args_vec){
    system2('python', args)
}

This answer doesn't quite get what I want. Namely, it doesn't work for me within Rstudio and it calls "system" (which presents the same problem as "system2" in this case). In fact, when I put the answer referenced above in my Rprofile.site file, it just immediately closed rstudio:

I tried the suggestion as a normal function (rather than using "makeActiveBinding", and it didn't quite work.

##restart R in r session  -- doesn't work
makeActiveBinding("refresh", function() { system("R --save"); q("no") }, .GlobalEnv)

##nor did this:
refresh <- function() { system("R --save"); q("no") }

I tried a number of variations of these two options above, but this is getting long for what feels like a simple question. There's a lot I don't yet understand about the startup process and "makeActiveBinding" is a bit mysterious. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Answer 1

In Rstudio, you can restart the R session by:

command/ctrl + shift + F10 

You can also use:

.rs.restartR()

Answer 2

RStudio has this undocumented rs.restartR() which is supposed to do just that: restarting R.

However, it does not unload the packages that were loaded, nor does it clean the environment, so that I have some doubts about if it restarts R at all.

Answer 3

If you use RStudio, use the menu item Session > Restart R or the associated keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+F10 (Windows and Linux) or Command+Shift+F10 (Mac OS). Additional keyboard shortcuts make it easy to restart development where you left off, i.e. to say “re-run all the code up to HERE”:

In an R script, use Ctrl+Alt+B (Windows and Linux) or Command+Option+B (Mac OS) In R markdown, use Ctrl+Alt+P (Windows and Linux) or Command+Option+P (Mac OS) If you run R from the shell, use Ctrl+D or q() to quit, then restart R.

Answer 4

Have you tried embedding the function call within the apply function, rather than a for loop?

I've had some pieces of code that ran the system out of memory in a for loop run perfectly with apply. It might help?

Answer 5

For those not limited to a command that want something that actually resets the system (no prior state, no loaded packages, no variables, etc.) you can select Terminate R from the Session menu.

It is a bit awkward (asks you if you are sure). If anyone knows something like clear all or really clear classes in MATLAB let me know!