Common Issues/Questions

→ How does this function work?

You can pull up documentation for any function that has it by typing the following in the console:

?my_function

→ How do I use this package?

'Vignettes' are common ways of describing how packages should be used in a narrative format.

You can pull up the vignettes for a given package by running the following line:

browseVignettes("package_name_here")

You can also look through the 'reference manual', which contains a list of functions and datasets included in the package. Here's dplyrs.

Sometimes I hunt through the function names and see if any names look useful, or I look at functions that kind of do the thing I want and see if they're in the 'see also' section of the documentation.

You can also pull up a list of functions available to you by typing

dplyr::

and then hitting tab. It will show you a list of all the functions and datasets available to you from that package. I find that's a bit less arduous than looking for the package's reference manual.

Some packages also have additional information online that can't be accessed directly through R. It's worth checking to see if they have a dedicated website, which can contain additional information and just be nicer to navigate in general. dplyr has one, for instance.