how to set lib-paths in R to have a single directory which is "C:\Users\Username\Documents\..."

Question

Win 7 64 bit machine R version 3.5.3 (2019-03-11)

Question: How do I set my library paths to have only one directory, namely: "C:/Users/Username/Documents/R/win-library/3.5" ?

I added .libPaths("C:/Users/Username/Documents/R/win-library/3.5") to RProfile.site

Set R_LIBS_USER and R_LIBS to: C:\Users\Username\Documents\R\win-library\3.5

R_LIBS_SITE:

[1] "C:\\Users\\Username\\Documents\\R\\win-library\\3.5"

yet when I start RStudio and input:

> .libPaths()
[1] "C:/Users/Username/Documents/R/win-library/3.5" "C:/Program Files/R/R-3.5.3/library"

I still end up with two library paths (as above).

Furthermore, in RStudio I am not able to set lib-paths to just "C:/Users/Username/Documents/R/win-library/3.5" with these steps:

> .libPaths("C:/Users/Username/Documents/R/win-library/3.5")
> .libPaths()
[1] "C:/Users/Username/Documents/R/win-library/3.5" "C:/Program Files/R/R-3.5.3/library" 
> .libPaths("C:/Program Files/R/R-3.5.3/library")
> .libPaths()
[1] "C:/Program Files/R/R-3.5.3/library"
> .libPaths("C:/Users/Username/Documents/R/win-library/3.5")
> .libPaths()
[1] "C:/Users/Username/Documents/R/win-library/3.5" "C:/Program Files/R/R-3.5.3/library"

An attempt to set lib-paths by editing .Renviron with:

> usethis::edit_r_environ()

Added .libPaths("C:\Users\Username\Documents\R\win-library\3.5") to and saved .Renviron file. This resulted in an R Message upon restarting R:

File C:/Users/Username/Documents/.Renviron contains invalid line(s) .libPaths("C:\Users\Username\Documents\R\win-library\3.5")

Thank you

You can't, and you don't want to, remove the base library location. That's where R's own packages live, and without them you can't use R. — Hong Ooi, Apr 15 '19 at 09:24
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15217758/remove-a-library-from-libpaths-permanently-without-rprofile-site seems to imply to the contrary. Many of the steps above are from this thread. thanks — analytics-josh, Apr 16 '19 at 04:24
That question is about removing a _user-specific_ directory, not the base R install directory. — Hong Ooi, Apr 16 '19 at 04:33

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 16 '19 at 09:40

0

Hong Ooi's answer: "You can't, and you don't want to, remove the base library location. That's where R's own packages live, and without them you can't use R."

answered Apr 16 '19 at 09:40

analytics-josh

135
2
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Philippe Grondier · Answer 2 · 2022-01-18T10:25:16.333

Instead of using .Renviron, can you try it with Rprofile?

in the RStudio console window:

usethis::edit_r_profile()

This will open the .Rprofile file, located in the default R_USER folder

In the RStudio code window, write (or add) the following, then save:

.libPaths(c("C:/R/Library", .libPaths()[-1]))

This code replace the first element of the libPaths list with the "C:/R/Library" value. Restart RStudio, and you're done. You can check it by typing .libPaths() in the console window.

As for the second element of the list ("~/R/R-4.1.2/library" or the like), you cannot remove it as it contains R own packages.

how to set lib-paths in R to have a single directory which is "C:\Users\Username\Documents\..."

2 Answers2