Check which R version is running

R introduction R basics
Check which R version is running

You can check the current version of R running on your system with the different functions or variables that R provide. In this tutorial we will review them and its differences.

R.version

R.version and version are variables provided by R that returns a simple list with information about the version of R running. This information includes the platform for which R was built, the architecture, the underlying OS, the C runtime version, the CPU and OS, the mayor and minor version of R, the date of the release, the subversion number, the language (R), the version of R and its nickname.

R.version

version # Equivalent
               _                      
platform       x86_64-w64-mingw32               
arch           x86_64                           
os             mingw32                          
crt            ucrt                             
system         x86_64, mingw32                  
status                                          
major          4                                
minor          3.1                              
year           2023                             
month          06                               
day            16                               
svn rev        84548                            
language       R                                
version.string R version 4.3.1 (2023-06-16 ucrt)
nickname       Beagle Scouts

You can access an individual element by its name or index:

R.version[7]     # major 4
R.version$major  # "4"

R.Version()

R also provides a function that returns a list with all the information about the R version.

R.Version()
$platform
[1] "x86_64-w64-mingw32"

$arch
[1] "x86_64"

$os
[1] "mingw32"

$crt
[1] "ucrt"

$system
[1] "x86_64, mingw32"

$status
[1] ""

$major
[1] "4"

$minor
[1] "3.1"

$year
[1] "2023"

$month
[1] "06"

$day
[1] "16"

$`svn rev`
[1] "84548"

$language
[1] "R"

$version.string
[1] "R version 4.3.1 (2023-06-16 ucrt)"

$nickname
[1] "Beagle Scouts"

It is possible to access individual elements using the $ operator, as in the example below.

R.Version()$version.string
"R version 4.3.1 (2023-06-16 ucrt)"

R.version.string

R also provides other variable to get only the current R version running on your computer named R.version.string.

R.version.string
"R version 4.3.1 (2023-06-16 ucrt)"

getRversion()

There is also other function named getRversion() which returns only the mayor and minor version number of R, including the patchlevel.

getRversion()
‘4.3.1’

R_compiled_by()

Finally, there is other function related to the previous which returns the detail about the C and Fortran compilers used to build R.

R_compiled_by()
                         C                    Fortran 
    "gcc.exe (GCC) 12.2.0" "GNU Fortran (GCC) 12.2.0"