Getting help

How to get help on a particular R command

You can type either of

> help(log)

> ?log

to get help on the log command.

In Windows, you may also click on the Help menu. By left clicking on the R functions (text) option, you may then enter the command you want help on. This is shown below.

Screen1

How to obtain a list of the help files for all R commands Type: > help.start() to start a help window using Netscape.

This is also a way to list all of the R commands. In Windows, you may also click on the Help menu and then left click on the Html help option, as shown below.

This will also start a help window using your browser. Screen2

Other ways of getting help in R

You may also find additional information in R manuals or FAQ's. These can be accessed from the internet using the following links:

Manuals

FAQ's

To access R manuals or FAQ's directly from R in Windows, you can simply click on the Help menu, left click on the FAQ or Manuals option

and choose from a list of manuals.

Screen3

Note that if you do not know the command in R that you want help on, the above methods of searching the R help files for relevant information concerning a particular subject are (most of the time) not useful.

Some other ways of searching for help on a particular subject are:

Search the R webpage's help files, manuals, and mailing list archives by clicking here.

Search the R mail archives by clicking here. Search for the particular subject in R using the Google newsgroups. Note that the keyword, R, is not particularly helpful when specified in Google because it is generic. Because Splus and R are quite similar in most cases, searching Google using Splus instead of R will most likely yield some information.

ABOVE ALL, IF YOU DON'T KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT R, ASK SOMEONE WHO MIGHT KNOW!!!