multiple independent R sessions in Mac OS X

Question

I need to run multiple R sessions, and hope that they can be performed in different R sessions. In Windows, I am able to open an arbitrary number of R sessions, and run different codes in each session (both RGui and RStudio). However, in Mac OSX, neither R.app nor RStudio would allow me to open multiple independent sessions -- I have to wait until the first set of R codes are completed in order to run a second set of R codes.

Is there any solution in Mac OSX? This issues had bothered me long ago, so I'd like to hear your suggestions. Thanks!

Tabbi

You can run multiple sessions on the command line, using Terminal or iterm, etc. – Blanca

@ScottChamberlain: thanks! I didn't thought about that... is it the only solution in Mac? – Tabbi

You can always just run R from the command line to get as many sessions as you want. You can also install emacs and ess, which will also permit multiple sessions. – Doit

@Tabbi I don't know of other solutions. If I need multiple sessions I always use the command line via iTerm (a bit nicer than using the standard terminal app – Blanca

You can duplicate the entire R.app package by option-dragging (and you can rename the copies). Haven't tried this with RStudio.app. – Bouchard

open -n /Applications/RStudio.app in Terminal – Kinsfolk

The easiest way to run multiple rstudio sessions is to use projects - I usually have 3 or 4 running at once. – Variegate

@Variegate on RStudio-server on ubuntu & try to switch between projects I'm always asked if I want to terminate my currently running session (say, when it's in the middle of executing some code). Does the code really keep running when you switch between RStudio projects on a Mac? – Unit

@Unit switching closes the old one. I think there's some limitations with projects on rstudio server. – Variegate

Answer 1

Thank you for all the suggestions. Here is a brief summary of the possible solutions:

1. Using Terminal: Run: open -n /Applications/RStudio.app in Terminal
2. Install Emacs and ESS which permit multiple sessions
3. Duplicate the entire R.app package by option-dragging (and you can rename the copies)
4. Run multiple rstudio sessions using projects

Tabbi

Small improvement to #1 (will use current working directory): open -na Rstudio . – Bandy

Answer 2

Opens another instance of an application in OSX:

open -n -a "APPLICATION NAME"

In this case you'd just do:

open -n -a "rstudio"

CNET article source

Halle

Answer 3

Another option for RStudio is to right click the RStudio icon of a current session and select "New RStudio Window":

Threadgill

Answer 4

I use this all the time on Mac OSX to open multiple Rgui sessions (similar to the Rstudio answer above): open -n /Applications/R.app/ You can do this multiple times for as many R sessions as you want.

Barghest