The Art of R Programming

Using R from Python

Python is an elegant and powerful language, but it lacks built-in facilities for statistical and data manipulation, two areas in which R excels. This section demonstrates how to call R from Python, using RPy, one of the most popular interfaces between the two languages.

Installing RPy

RPy is a Python module that allows access to R from Python. For extra efficiency, it can be used in conjunction with NumPy.

You can build the module from the source, available from http://rpy.sourceforge.net, or download a prebuilt version. If you are running Ubuntu, simply type this:

sudo apt-get install python-rpy

To load RPy from Python (whether in Python interactive mode or from code), execute the following:

from rpy import *

This will load a ...