R: Idea behind .First() vs. ~/.Rprofile

Hi,

I'm ramping up on R, and reading
http://stuff.mit.edu/afs/sipb/project/r-
project/lib/R/library/base/html/Startup.html.
I'm probably wrong about this, but ~/.Rprofile seems to serve the same
purpose as a .First() function.  Why do both exist, and what
considerations go into a decision to choose one over the other for
startup code?

It's the timing and where the info comes from, as that document explains in
great detail.

.Rprofile is read on start-up unless R is specifically told to skip it.

.First() is sourced after it's loaded, and thus must be loaded from
somewhere such as an existing .RData file or a package.

~/.Rprofile is thus most convenient for things you want to have happen in
every R session, while .First() is useful for specific sessions loaded from
saved objects, or for constructing packages. Though on linux, I use a local
.Rprofile if I need per-session options, because I often don't have a saved
.RData file.

Sarah

Sarah Goslee
http://www.stringpage.com
http://www.sarahgoslee.com
http://www.functionaldiversity.org

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