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I am looking for a way to double-click on file name in Windows Explorer directory (XP) that will open the R GUI and display the script (but not run it). In other works I want R to work in a similar way to opening a PDF (or pretty much every other program) from the Windows Explorer directory.

I have tried to find the appropriate .exe from Right Click -> Open With -> Choose Program route but to no avail. I have also tried moving the R icon from my Start | All Programs to the C:\Documents and Settings..\SendTo to allow me to select R from Right Click -> Send To -> R. This also failed.

guyabel
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    I'd suggest you use a real editor like Tinn-R for example. R files are automatically linked to Tinn-R. The same can be obtained for any other editor, using the Open With path or setting it in the control panel. – Joris Meys Mar 30 '11 at 14:54
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    Then you haven't looked hard enough. Give RStudio a go, you'll love it. – Roman Luštrik Mar 30 '11 at 20:27
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    there is indeed no significant added value, apart from code highlighting, project templates, control over the workspace, easy sweaving of documents, ... Each to his own off course, but even if you don't really buy Tinn-R, I'd suggest you really take a look at RStudio. – Joris Meys Mar 30 '11 at 22:19

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Unless you have a compelling reason to use the default R editor, I recommend using one of the third party text editors for R. Lots of good details here: Recommendations for Windows text editor for R

I'll give a personal recommendation to the new kid on the block, R-studio: http://www.rstudio.org/

Community
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Chase
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  • +1 for rstudio. Although I don't use it myself it seems like a very useful tool for beginners in R. I personally prefer Notepad++ with NppToR: http://sourceforge.net/projects/npptor/ – Sacha Epskamp Mar 30 '11 at 15:30
  • @Sacha : given the ease of installation, Rstudio seems far more appropriate for beginners in R. – Joris Meys Mar 30 '11 at 15:33
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The following url:

http://research.stowers-institute.org/efg/R/TechNote/WindowsExplorerWorkingDirectory/index.htm

has information on how to set up windows so that you can right click on a folder in windows explorer and start R (you will need to update the file to more recent versions of R, but it still works).

This will not open the .R file for you, but you can then easily do that from the folder icon in the R GUI. I like this approach better, you still right click to run R and it runs in the folder you specify, but I often have 2 or more .R files that I want to open in the same instance of R (with your description above it is not clear whether the second file you did that with would open in the same instance of R or open a new one).

I also have the following line in my .Rprofile to help me keep track of the different instances of R that I have open:

utils::setWindowTitle(getwd())
Greg Snow
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