The R Project SVN R

\name{library}
\title{Loading and Listing of Packages}
\alias{library}
\alias{require}
\alias{R_LIBS}
\alias{.Autoloaded}
\alias{.First.lib}
\alias{.Last.lib}
\alias{.Library}
\alias{.find.package}
\alias{.packages}
\alias{.path.package}
\alias{.libPaths}
\alias{.noGenerics}
\alias{print.libraryIQR}
\alias{print.packageInfo}
\description{
  \code{library} and \code{require} load add-on packages.

  \code{.First.lib} is called when a package is loaded;
  \code{.Last.lib} is called when a package is detached.

  \code{.packages} returns information about package availability.

  \code{.path.package} returns information about where a package was
  loaded from.

  \code{.find.package} returns the directory paths of installed
  packages.
}
\usage{
library(package, help, pos = 2, lib.loc = NULL, character.only = FALSE,
        logical.return = FALSE, warn.conflicts = TRUE,
        keep.source = getOption("keep.source.pkgs"),
        verbose = getOption("verbose"), version)
require(package, quietly = FALSE, warn.conflicts = TRUE,
        keep.source = getOption("keep.source.pkgs"),
        character.only = FALSE, version, save = TRUE)

.First.lib(libname, pkgname)
.Last.lib(libpath)

.packages(all.available = FALSE, lib.loc = NULL)
.path.package(package = .packages(), quiet = FALSE)
.find.package(package, lib.loc = NULL, quiet = FALSE,
              verbose = getOption("verbose"))
.libPaths(new)

.Library
.Autoloaded
}
\arguments{
  \item{package, help}{the name of a package, given as a \link{name} or
    literal character string, or a character string, depending on
    whether \code{character.only} is \code{FALSE} (default) or
    \code{TRUE}).}
  \item{pos}{the position on the search list at which to attach the
    loaded package.  Note that \code{.First.lib} may attach other
    packages, and \code{pos} is computed \emph{after} \code{.First.lib}
    has been run.  Can also be the name of a position on the current
    search list as given by \code{\link{search}()}.}
  \item{lib.loc}{a character vector describing the location of \R
    library trees to search through, or \code{NULL}.  The default value
    of \code{NULL} corresponds to all libraries currently known.}
  \item{character.only}{a logical indicating whether \code{package} or
    \code{help} can be assumed to be character strings.}
  \item{version}{A character string denoting a version number of the
     package to be loaded.  If no version is given, a suitable default
     is chosen.}
  \item{logical.return}{logical.  If it is \code{TRUE},  \code{FALSE} or
    \code{TRUE} is returned to indicate success.}
  \item{warn.conflicts}{logical.  If \code{TRUE}, warnings are
    printed about \code{\link{conflicts}} from attaching the new
    package, unless that package contains an object \code{.conflicts.OK}.}
  \item{keep.source}{logical.  If \code{TRUE}, functions \dQuote{keep their
    source} including comments, see argument \code{keep.source} to
    \code{\link{options}}.}
  \item{verbose}{a logical.  If \code{TRUE}, additional diagnostics are
    printed.}
  \item{quietly}{a logical.  If \code{TRUE}, no message confirming
    package loading is printed.}
  \item{save}{logical or environment.  If \code{TRUE}, a call to
  \code{require} from the source for a package will save the name of
  the required package in the variable \code{".required"}, allowing
  function \code{\link{detach}} to warn if a required package is
  detached. See section \sQuote{Packages that require other packages} below.}
  \item{libname}{a character string giving the library directory where
    the package was found.}
  \item{pkgname}{a character string giving the name of the package.}
  \item{libpath}{a character string giving the complete path to the
    package.}
  \item{all.available}{logical; if \code{TRUE} return a character vector
    of all available packages in \code{lib.loc}.}
  \item{quiet}{logical.
    For \code{.path.package}, should this not give warnings or an error
    if the package(s) are not loaded?
    For \code{.find.package}, should this not give warnings or an error
    if the package(s) are not found?}
  \item{new}{a character vector with the locations of \R library trees.}
}
\details{
  \code{library(package)} and \code{require(package)} both load the
  package with name \code{package}.  \code{require} is designed for use
  inside other functions; it returns \code{FALSE} and gives a warning
  (rather than an error as \code{library()} does) if the package does
  not exist.  Both functions check and update the list of currently
  loaded packages and do not reload code that is already loaded.

  For large packages, setting \code{keep.source = FALSE} may save quite
  a bit of memory.

  If \code{library} is called with no \code{package} or \code{help}
  argument, it lists all available packages in the libraries specified
  by \code{lib.loc}, and returns the corresponding information in an
  object of class \code{"libraryIQR"}.  The structure of this class may
  change in future versions.  In earlier versions of R, only the names
  of all available packages were returned; use \code{.packages(all =
    TRUE)} for obtaining these.  Note that
  \code{\link[utils]{installed.packages}()} returns even more information.

  \code{library(help = somename)} computes basic information about the
  package \code{somename}, and returns this in an object of class
  \code{"packageInfo"}.  The structure of this class may change in
  future versions.

  \code{.First.lib} is called when a package is loaded by
  \code{library}.  It is called with two arguments, the name of the
  library directory where the package was found (i.e., the corresponding
  element of \code{lib.loc}), and the name of the package (in that
  order).  It is a good place to put calls to \code{\link{library.dynam}}
  which are needed when loading a package into this function (don't call
  \code{library.dynam} directly, as this will not work if the package
  is not installed in a \dQuote{standard} location).  \code{.First.lib}
  is invoked after the search path interrogated by \code{search()}
  has been updated, so
  \code{as.environment(match("package:name", search()))} will return the
  environment in which the package is stored.  If calling
  \code{.First.lib} gives an error the loading of the package is
  abandoned, and the package will be unavailable.  Similarly, if the
  option \code{".First.lib"} has a list element with the package's name,
  this element is called in the same manner as \code{.First.lib} when
  the package is loaded.  This mechanism allows the user to set package
  \dQuote{load hooks} in addition to startup code as provided by the package
  maintainers.

  \code{.Last.lib} is called when a package is detached.  Beware
  that it might be called if \code{.First.lib} has failed, so it
  should be written defensively. (It is called within \code{\link{try}},
  so errors will not stop the package being detached.)

  \code{.packages()} returns the \dQuote{base names} of the currently
  attached packages \emph{invisibly} whereas
  \code{.packages(all.available = TRUE)} gives (visibly) \emph{all}
  packages available in the library location path \code{lib.loc}.

  \code{.path.package} returns the paths from which the named packages
  were loaded, or if none were named, for all currently loaded packages.
  Unless \code{quiet = TRUE} it will warn if some of the packages named
  are not loaded, and given an error if none are.  This function is not
  meant to be called by users, and its interface might change in future
  versions.

  \code{.find.package} returns the paths to the locations where the
  given packages can be found.  If \code{lib.loc} is \code{NULL}, then
  then attached packages are searched before the libraries.  If a
  package is found more than once, the first match is used.  Unless
  \code{quiet = TRUE} a warning will be given about the named packages
  which are not found, and an error if none are.  If \code{verbose} is
  true, warnings about packages found more than once are given.  This
  function is not meant to be called by users, and its interface might
  change in future versions.

  \code{.Autoloaded} contains the \dQuote{base names} of the packages for
  which autoloading has been promised.

  \code{.Library} is a character string giving the location of the
  default library, the \file{library} subdirectory of \env{R\_HOME}.
  \code{.libPaths} is used for getting or setting the library trees that
  \R knows about (and hence uses when looking for packages).  If called
  with argument \code{new}, the library search path is set to
  the existing files in \code{unique(new, .Library)} and this is
  returned.  If given no argument, a character vector with the currently
  known library trees is returned.

#ifdef unix
  The library search path is initialized at startup from the environment
  variable \env{R\_LIBS} (which should be a colon-separated list of
  directories at which \R library trees are rooted) by calling
  \code{.libPaths} with the directories specified in \env{R\_LIBS}.
#endif
#ifdef windows
  The library search path is initialized at startup from the environment
  variable \env{R\_LIBS} (which should be a semicolon-separated list of
  directories at which \R library trees are rooted) by calling
  \code{.libPaths} with the directories specified in \env{R\_LIBS}.
#endif
}
\value{
  \code{library} returns the list of loaded (or available) packages
  (or \code{TRUE} if \code{logical.return} is \code{TRUE}).
  \code{require} returns a logical indicating whether the required
  package is available.
}
\section{Packages that require other packages}{The source code for a
  package that requires one or more other packages should have a call
  to \code{require}, preferably near the beginning of the source, and
  of course before any code that uses functions, classes or methods
  from the other package.  The default for argument \code{save} will
  save the names of all required packages in the environment of the
  new package.  The saved package names are used by
  \code{\link{detach}} when a package is detached to warn if other
  packages still require the detached package.  Also, if a package is
  installed with saved image (see \link[utils]{INSTALL}), the saved package
  names are used to require these packages when the new package is attached.}
\section{Formal methods}{
  \code{library} takes some further actions when package \pkg{methods}
  is attached (as it is by default).  Packages may define formal generic
  functions as well as re-defining functions in other packages (notably
  \pkg{base}) to be generic, and this information is cached whenever
  such a package is loaded after \pkg{methods} and re-defined functions
  are excluded from the list of conflicts.  The check requires looking
  for a pattern of objects; the pattern search may be avoided by
  defining an object \code{.noGenerics}
  (with any value) in the package.  Naturally, if the package
  \emph{does} have any such methods, this will prevent them from being used.
}
\note{
  \code{library} and \code{require} can only load an \emph{installed}
  package, and this is detected by having a \file{DESCRIPTION} file
  containing a \code{Built:} field.  Packages
  installed prior to 1.2.0 (released in December 2000) will need to be
  re-installed.

  Under Unix-alikes, the code checks that the package was installed
  under a similar operating system as given by \code{R.version$platform}
  (the canonical name of the platform under which R was compiled),
  provided it contains compiled code.  Packages which do not contain
  compiled code can be shared between Unix-alikes, but not to other OSes
  because of potential problems with line endings and OS-specific help
  files.

  \code{library} and \code{require} use the underlying file system
  services to locate the libraries, with the result that on
  case-sensitive file systems package names are case-sensitive
  (i.e., \code{library(foo)} is different from
  \code{library(Foo)}), but they are not distinguished on
  case-insensitive file systems such as MS Windows.  A warning
  is issued if the user specifies a name which isn't a perfect match
  to the package name, because future versions of \R will require
  exact matches.

}
\author{
  R core;
  Guido Masarotto for the \code{all.available=TRUE} part of
  \code{.packages}.
}
\seealso{
  \code{\link{attach}}, \code{\link{detach}}, \code{\link{search}},
  \code{\link{objects}}, \code{\link{autoload}},
  \code{\link{library.dynam}}, \code{\link{data}},
  \code{\link[utils]{install.packages}} and
  \code{\link[utils]{installed.packages}};
  \code{\link[utils]{INSTALL}}, \code{\link[utils]{REMOVE}}.
}
\references{
  Becker, R. A., Chambers, J. M. and Wilks, A. R. (1988)
  \emph{The New S Language}.
  Wadsworth \& Brooks/Cole.
}
\examples{
(.packages())               # maybe just "base"
.packages(all = TRUE)       # return all available as character vector
library()                   # list all available packages
library(lib = .Library)     # list all packages in the default library
library(help = eda)         # documentation on package 'eda'
library(eda)                # load package 'eda'
require(eda)                # the same
(.packages())               # "eda", too
detach("package:eda")

# if the package name is in a character vector, use
pkg <- "eda"
library(pkg, character.only = TRUE)
detach(pos = match(paste("package", pkg, sep=":"), search()))

require(pkg, character.only = TRUE)
detach(pos = match(paste("package", pkg, sep=":"), search()))

.path.package()
.Autoloaded                 # maybe "ctest"

.libPaths()                 # all library trees R knows about

require(nonexistent)        # FALSE
\dontrun{
## Suppose a package needs to call a shared library named 'fooEXT',
## where 'EXT' is the system-specific extension.  Then you should use
.First.lib <- function(lib, pkg) {
  library.dynam("foo", pkg, lib)
}

## if you want to mask as little as possible, use
library(mypkg, pos = "package:base")
}}
\keyword{data}