Installing and updating packages in R

Single package installation can be performed with

install.packages("package_name")

For example,

install.packages("caret")

Usually, R will install package dependencies. For some larger packages with a long chain of dependencies, such as the caret package,

install.packages("caret", dependencies=c("Depends", "Suggests"))

Note – this can take a non-trivial amount of time and bandwidth depending on the complexity of the package.

To see what packages are installed:

installed.packages()

To update currently installed packages,

update.packages()

This will update the installed packages, but prompt you upon updating each. To update all without prompting,

update.packages(ask=FALSE)