R.Version Function in R (Examples) | Which Version is Currently Running?

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to extract the current version in the R programming language.

Table of contents:

Let’s get started!

Example 1: Apply R.Version() Function

This Example explains how to create a data object containing the currently running R version using the R.Version function. For this, we simply need to store the output of R.Version() in a data object:

my_version <- R.Version()        # Execute R.Version function
my_version                       # Print output
# $platform
# [1] "x86_64-w64-mingw32"
# 
# $arch
# [1] "x86_64"
# 
# $os
# [1] "mingw32"
# 
# $system
# [1] "x86_64, mingw32"
# 
# $status
# [1] ""
# 
# $major
# [1] "3"
# 
# $minor
# [1] "5.3"
# 
# $year
# [1] "2019"
# 
# $month
# [1] "03"
# 
# $day
# [1] "11"
# 
# $`svn rev`
# [1] "76217"
# 
# $language
# [1] "R"
# 
# $version.string
# [1] "R version 3.5.3 (2019-03-11)"
# 
# $nickname
# [1] "Great Truth"

As you can see, we have created a data object called my_version. This data object is a list containing different information about the currently running version of the R programming language.

For instance, it contains the list element version.string which is consisting of a character string showing the current version:

my_version$version.string        # Extract certain parameters
# "R version 3.5.3 (2019-03-11)"

Example 2: Print R Version as Character String to RStudio Console

In this Example, I’ll illustrate how to extract the currently running R version even quicker. The R programming language provides a predefined variable called R.version.string, which contains only the current version as character string:

R.version.string                 # Simplified copy of R.version$version.string
# "R version 3.5.3 (2019-03-11)"

As you can see, the content of this variable is exactly the same as the output of the previously created list element version.string (see Example 1).

Example 3: Print R.version Variable to RStudio Console

Another quick way to get information about the currently running R version is provided by the variable R.version. We simply can show the content stored in R.version as follows:

R.version                        # Return currently used R version to console
#                _                           
# platform       x86_64-w64-mingw32          
# arch           x86_64                      
# os             mingw32                     
# system         x86_64, mingw32             
# status                                     
# major          3                           
# minor          5.3                         
# year           2019                        
# month          03                          
# day            11                          
# svn rev        76217                       
# language       R                           
# version.string R version 3.5.3 (2019-03-11)
# nickname       Great Truth

Video, Further Resources & Summary

If you need more explanations on the R code of this article, I can recommend to have a look at the following video of my YouTube channel. I show the examples of this tutorial in the video.

Furthermore, you might read the other articles of this website. I have released numerous articles already.

• Introduction to System Calls & Commands
• Find Out Which Package Version is Loaded in R
• R Functions List (+ Examples)
• The R Programming Language

In this article, I explained how to apply the R.Version function in R to check which version is currently running on a computer. Don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments, if you have any additional questions.