“import as” in R

Question

Is there a way to import a package with another name in R, the way you might with import as in Python, e.g. import numpy as np? I\'ve been starting

Answer 1

Here's a solution that should only be used for interactive mode. You modify :: so that it can accept character package names, then write a function to register the aliases.

`::` <- function(pkg, name) {
    sym <- as.character(substitute(pkg))
    pkg <- tryCatch(get(sym, envir=.GlobalEnv), error=function(e) sym)
    name <- as.character(substitute(name))
    getExportedValue(pkg, name)
}

pkg.alias <- function(alias, package) {
    assign(alias, package, .GlobalEnv)
    lockBinding(alias, .GlobalEnv)
}

pkg.alias('r', 'reshape2')
r::dcast

But instead of using aliases, you could also redefine :: to find the package that matches your abbreviation:

`::` <- function(pkg, name)  {
    pkg <- as.character(substitute(pkg))
    pkg <- installed.packages()[grepl(paste0('^', pkg), installed.packages())]
    name <- as.character(substitute(name))
    getExportedValue(pkg, name)
}

ggp::ggplot