The Complete Guide to Updating Rlang + Troubleshooting Solutions

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Try one of these methods to update rlang quickly & easily
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Are you trying to update your rlang package in RStudio or the R Console? This package is notoriously finicky to update, so if you're struggling to update it, you're not alone! In this article, we'll go over how to update rlang with a command, as well as in the RStudio GUI. We have included some troubleshooting tips for the most common issues when updating rlang.

Quick Steps to Update Your Rlang Package

  1. Clear your R environment with rm(list = ls ()) .
  2. Restart RStudio or R Console, making sure not to load any packages once it restarts.
  3. Run the command install.packages("rlang") to update rlang.
Section 1 of 3:

Updating Rlang With a Command

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    You can do this in both RStudio or the R Console, whichever you prefer working with. Run the following command to clear your R environment:

    rm(list = ls ())

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    The reason you want to clear your R environment and restart RStudio or the R Console is to ensure no other packages load that use rlang. This will cause issues when trying to update the package.
    • In RStudio, you can alternatively press Ctrl+Shift+F10 to clear your global environment and restart the application.
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    When you restart RStudio or R Console, make sure to update your rlang package before you do anything else to avoid errors or the update not working. The command to update rlang is as follows:

    install.packages("rlang")

    • If you need to update rlang to a specific version, not just the latest, you can use this command, where [url] is the URL to the package on CRAN's website:

      install.packages("[URL]", repo=NULL, type= "source")

    • You can also choose to update all of your R packages (including rlang) with the following command:

      update.packages(checkBuilt = TRUE)

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Section 2 of 3:

Updating Rlang With the RStudio GUI

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    If RStudio is currently open on your computer, close it and open it again. You can press Ctrl+Shift+F10 to restart RStudio while also clearing the global environment.
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    It's a tab near the top of the window, between Plots and Help . Do this before you do anything else in RStudio to avoid getting errors when updating rlang.
    • You can use this window to check your rlang version if you're not sure what version you're using.
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    This indicates that you only want to update rlang. You can check multiple boxes here if you want to update multiple packages.
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    It's above your package list, with a green arrow button. This will check for any updates for the selected packages (rlang, in this case). [1]
    • Follow the steps presented in the GUI to update rlang.
    • You can also check for updates by clicking the Tools menu and selecting Check for Package Updates… .
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Section 3 of 3:

Troubleshooting

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    You likely have your settings set to save your workspace to .RData when RStudio closes. You can fix this by doing the following:
    • Go to Tools > Global Options… > General . The "General" tab is the top tab in your RStudio settings and should open by default.
    • Uncheck the box next to "Restore .RData into workspace at startup".
    • In the dropdown next to "Save workspace to .RData on exit", select Never .
    • Click Apply , then OK to save your settings. RStudio will now clear your global environment the next time you restart.
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    Many packages are dependent on rlang. If these packages are loaded in RStudio or R Console, you won't be able to update the package. If restarting RStudio/R Console with a clear environment doesn't help, you may have to uninstall rlang completely and reinstall the newer version.
    • Load the installer package by running the following command:

      library(installr)

    • Uninstall rlang with the following command:

      uninstall.packages("rlang")

    • Restart RStudio or R Console.
    • Install rlang with the following command:

      install.packages("rlang", dependencies = TRUE)

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      References

      1. ↑ https://methodenlehre.github.io/SGSCLM-R-course/rstudio-workflow.html

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