Can I move the cursor to revise in R?

Question

I input something into the R console:

> ta <- function(x,y){  
+ x=x+2  
+ y=y+1  
+  

Now my cursor is on the fourth line, I found it's x=x+1, not x=x+2.
Can I move my cursor onto the second line to revise x=x+2 into x=x+1?

Answer 1

As far as I'm aware, you can't do what you describe. What you can do is press Esc to cancel entering into the console and start afresh writing it in.

Are you using an IDE? Or are you writing directly into the RGui? If the latter, I heartily recommend using RStudio. It will make your life a lot easier. You'll be able to to enter text into one window and then send it into the R console when you're ready.

Alternatively. R does have an editor (File > New script) which you can use to send lines, or you can even use a txt file off to the side and only send lines when you're ready.

Answer 2

AFAIK, there is no way to edit the function while R is still waiting for you to close the function call. So first, I think you need to finish writing your function by typing }. Once completed, you can then do one of a few things, all of which are outlined in good detail here. I won't bother regurgitating those perfectly good answers, but do recommend you check them out. Finally, if you aren't currently using an IDE to help develop your R code, that will make your life much easier. Which IDE will be best for you is also quite subjective, but has been covered on SO here before. FWIW, I've had good luck with RStudio which is platform independent and all that good jazz...your miles may vary.

Answer 3

If you are running R from a terminal, you can press ctrl + c to cancel your entry and start over.