How to search for "R" materials?
RSearchR FaqR Problem Overview
"The Google" is very helpful... unless your language is called "R," in which case it spits out tons of irrelevant stuff.
Anyone have any search engine tricks for "R"? There are some specialized websites, like those below, but how can you tell Google you mean "R" the language? If I'm searching for something specific, I'll use an R-specific term, like "cbind." Are there other such tricks?
R Solutions
Solution 1 - R
http://rseek.org is a great search engine for R manuals, mailing lists, and various websites. It's a Google syndicated search app with specialized UI. I always use it.
Solution 2 - R
An update, several years later
All the links you need are right here:
https://stackoverflow.com/tags/r/info
This was discussed on the R-Help mailing list recently.
Some things mentioned there that haven't been covered here are:
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Using the RSiteSearch function, and the package of the same name.
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Using R-specific search engines. You mentioned RSeek and RSearch. You can also search the R mail archive, the help wiki, the task views, RForge, and Bioconductor among other places.
Solution 3 - R
Most of the time I find googling for R plus my searching term works fine. When it doesn't, I'll try using "R project", or adding CRAN, statistic or language to the search.
Is there a particular topic that you're having problems searching for?
Solution 4 - R
A new CRAN package is extremely helpful for this: http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/sos/">check out the "sos" package.
Solution 5 - R
I would just add, one great way to search for R script is to type your search term into google with "ext:r" at the end. This will return all files that have the R extension. For instance:
- If you wanted http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS291US308&q=hpc+ext:r&aq=f&oq=&aqi=">some high performance computing examples, this returns Russ Lenth's http://www.stat.uiowa.edu/~luke/classes/295-hpc/notes/Netflix-code.R">"R code used in Netflix analyses" from Luke Tierney and Kate Cowles http://www.stat.uiowa.edu/~luke/classes/295-hpc/">"High Performance Computing in Statistics" course.
- If you wanted http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS291US308&q=bootstrapping++ext:r&aq=f&oq=&aqi=">examples of bootstrapping, this returns many scripts, most of which look very relevant.
I usually do my basic R searches with "r-project" at the beginning, since most people who refer to R in any great detail will usually also reference the site.
Solution 6 - R
Joining this discussion very late, but here is my preferred search string in Google: [R] followed by search string.
For example:
[R] lm finds several links to linear modelling in R
The reason this works is that StackOverflow uses the [r] tag, and the R mailing lists also use [R].
Solution 7 - R
CRAN is the authoritative place to look for R material.
Solution 8 - R
Search for "S-PLUS" instead. R and S-PLUS are siblings, but the latter is easier to search for.
Solution 9 - R
I typically use r-seek.org, but you can "search exactly as is" with Google by putting a + immediately before R.
> By attaching a + immediately before a > word (remember, don't add a space > after the +), you are telling Google > to match that word precisely as you > typed it. Putting double quotes around > a single word will do the same thing.
For example: +R cbind
Solution 10 - R
google for "r language" (with the quotes) and then your search terms.
Solution 11 - R
Typing .R into Google search box instead of just R helps.
Solution 12 - R
Similar to @MikeKSmith's answer, type R+ into the search box
Solution 13 - R
To find questions/answers on Stack Overflow, I always; go to Tags, type R, find the R tag and click on it.
Jeff mentioned a better way to search for the R Tag on the podcast, but I've since deleted it. :-(
Discussion aside, Stack Overflow (or one of the sister sites) would be a great resource for R users. The very high volume R-help email list could be reduced by sending Noobies like myself to specific places here. One confounding issue is that while the questions are mostly about the R language, they are often about the proper statistical test or algorithm for the problem.
RWFarley
Solution 14 - R
You can use this site:
http://www.dangoldstein.com/search_r.html, "Search the R Statistical Language".
Has "R Multi-site search powered by Google" and "R Multi- site search powered by Rollyo".
Note that it requires JavaScript to work (can be restricted to www.dangoldstein.com and google.com if your browser setup allows it - e.g. using NoScript in Firefox).
Solution 15 - R
GitHub's advanced search with a language constraint can be useful. Try this: language:R lubridate for example.
Solution 16 - R
You could always search for "R stats", considering R is a statistical program.
Edit: http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=R+stats&btnG=Google+Search
The first page shows plenty of relevant results.
Solution 17 - R
Adding "site:r-project.org" will help narrow down the results to only things on the official project web site. YMMV.
Solution 18 - R
How about "R statistical" or "R package"?
Also, restrict your search to the domain cran.r-project.org. For example, searching for how to use ifelse in R:
ifelse site:cran.r-project.org
Solution 19 - R
for your original question, i.e. how to search in google: one of my previous colleagues suggested to use keyword "r-help" instead of "r" together with your question when searching in google. It searches in the mailing list for answers. That always works for me.
Solution 20 - R
When googling, "in R" works well instead of just "R".
Solution 21 - R
Just type what you want to do, e.g. "R merge data frame" in google that works great! I don't read any materials, just use google as I type R code. It's just great!!!