radian: A 21 century R console
radian is an alternative console for the R program with multiline editing and rich syntax highlight. One would consider radian as a ipython clone for R, though its design is more aligned to julia. If you are looking for a Rust-based alternative, check out arf by @eitsupi.
Features
- Cross-platform: runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux
- Shell mode: hit
;to enter and<backspace>to leave reticulatePython REPL mode: hit~to enter- Improved R prompt and
reticulatePython prompt:- Multiline editing
- Syntax highlighting
- Auto-completion (
reticulateauto-completion usesjedi)
- Native Unicode / UTF-8 support (including Windows with R >= 4.2)
- LaTeX symbol completion (e.g.,
\alpha+<tab>) - Auto-matching parentheses and quotes
- Bracketed paste mode
- Emacs and Vi editing modes
- Automatically adjusts to terminal width
- Reads more than 4096 bytes per line
Installation
Requirements
- R (>= 4.2.0): Download from https://cran.r-project.org (built with shared library
libR.so/libR.dylib/R.dll). - Python (>= 3.10): Download from https://www.python.org/downloads/.
Installing radian via pipx or uv is recommended:
# install released version via pipx (or `uv tool install radian`)
pipx install radian
# or install the development version
pipx install git+https://github.com/randy3k/radian
# launch radian
radian
Unix Alias
You can alias r to radian in ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc so that r launches radian while R still opens the traditional R console (useful for commands like R CMD build):
alias r="radian"
Settings
radian can be customized via R options() in any of the following profile files:
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/radian/profileor$HOME/.config/radian/profile(Unix)%USERPROFILE%/radian/profile(Windows)$HOME/.radian_profile(Unix)%USERPROFILE%/.radian_profile(Windows).radian_profilein the current working directory
# Example ~/.radian_profile — only specify the options you want to customize
options(
radian.color_scheme = "native",
radian.editing_mode = "emacs"
)
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
radian.color_scheme |
"native" |
Color scheme for syntax highlighting (see Pygments styles) |
radian.editing_mode |
"emacs" |
Key binding mode: "emacs" or "vi" |
radian.emacs_bindings_in_vi_insert_mode |
FALSE |
Enable common Emacs key bindings while in Vi insert mode |
radian.show_vi_mode_prompt |
TRUE |
Show Vi mode indicator when radian.editing_mode = "vi" |
radian.vi_mode_prompt |
"\033[34m[{}]\033[0m " |
Format string (or named list list(ins = ..., nav = ...)) for the Vi mode indicator |
radian.prompt |
"\033[34mr$>\033[0m " |
Custom R prompt string |
radian.shell_prompt |
"\033[31m#!>\033[0m " |
Custom shell mode prompt string |
radian.browse_prompt |
"\033[33mBrowse[{}]>\033[0m " |
Custom debug browser prompt string |
radian.stderr_format |
"\033[31m{}\033[0m" |
Format string for standard error output |
radian.insert_new_line |
TRUE |
Insert a blank newline between prompts |
radian.indent_lines |
TRUE |
Indent continuation lines in multiline prompt |
radian.auto_indentation |
TRUE |
Auto-indent new lines and curly braces |
radian.tab_size |
4 |
Number of spaces per indentation level |
radian.auto_match |
TRUE |
Automatically match brackets and quotes |
radian.highlight_matching_bracket |
FALSE |
Highlight matching brackets around the cursor |
radian.auto_width |
TRUE |
Automatically adjust R width option when the terminal resizes |
radian.complete_while_typing |
TRUE |
Show completion menu automatically while typing |
radian.completion_prefix_length |
2 |
Minimum prefix length to trigger auto-completion |
radian.completion_timeout |
0.15 |
Timeout in seconds to cancel slow completions (0 to disable) |
radian.completion_adding_spaces_around_equals |
TRUE |
Add spaces around = in function argument completions |
radian.auto_suggest |
FALSE |
Enable prompt_toolkit auto-suggestion from history (experimental) |
radian.history_size |
20000 |
Maximum number of history entries to keep |
radian.global_history_file |
"~/.radian_history" |
Path to the global history file (environment variables and ~ are expanded) |
radian.local_history_file |
".radian_history" |
Filename for project-local history (used instead of global history if present in the working directory) |
radian.history_search_no_duplicates |
FALSE |
Skip duplicate entries during incremental history search (Ctrl-R / Ctrl-S) |
radian.history_search_ignore_case |
FALSE |
Perform case-insensitive incremental history search |
radian.history_ignore_browser_commands |
TRUE |
Do not save short debug browser commands (such as n, s, c, Q) in history |
radian.enable_reticulate_prompt |
TRUE |
Enable reticulate Python REPL mode triggered by ~ |
Custom Key Bindings
You can define custom Escape (or Alt) and Ctrl shortcuts in your profile. Note that some Ctrl keys (m, i, h, d, c) are reserved by the terminal and cannot be remapped.
# Example: `Esc` + `-` (or `Alt` + `-` if Alt sends Escape) inserts ` <- `,
# and `Ctrl` + `Right` inserts ` %>% `
options(
radian.escape_key_map = list(
list(key = "-", value = " <- ")
),
radian.ctrl_key_map = list(
list(key = "right", value = " %>% ")
)
)
FAQ
How do I switch to a different R version or specify the R binary?
You can select which R installation radian uses in several ways:
- Pass
--r-binary:radian --r-binary=/path/to/R - Expose the desired
Rbinary first onPATH - Set
R_BINARY=/path/to/R - Set
R_HOMEto the output ofR.home()(for example,env R_HOME=/usr/local/lib/R radian)
Why can't I switch the Python runtime in reticulate?
radian itself runs inside a Python process, so reticulate is bound to the Python runtime hosting radian (NOTE: Python version was forced by the current process). To use radian with a different Python environment, install radian in that environment.
How do I enable reticulate auto-completions?
Install jedi in the same Python environment as radian (e.g., pipx inject radian jedi or pip install jedi).
Cannot find R shared library (libR.so / libR.dylib / R.dll)
Make sure R was compiled with the shared library enabled. When building R from source on Linux, pass ./configure --enable-R-shlib (and run make clean before rebuilding if previously compiled without it).
How do I use a local history file?
radian stores history in .radian_history (separate from .Rhistory). If a .radian_history file exists in the working directory, radian uses it automatically; otherwise it uses ~/.radian_history. You can override this with radian --local-history, radian --global-history, or radian --no-history.
Does radian slow down R code?
radian only provides the interactive console frontend; R's evaluation loop is identical to the standard R console. However, fork-based parallelism (parallel::mclapply or future::plan("multicore")) is not recommended from an embedded R/Python process; prefer socket/multisession workers (future::plan("multisession")).
Nvim-R configuration
Add the following to your Vim/Neovim configuration:
let R_app = "radian"
let R_cmd = "R"
let R_hl_term = 0
let R_args = [] " if you had set any
let R_bracketed_paste = 1
Prompt not shown inside a Docker container
This can happen when the container's PTY size is uninitialized. Run stty size to check, or pass $COLUMNS and $LINES when attaching:
docker exec -it <container> bash -c "stty cols $COLUMNS rows $LINES && bash"
Why called radian?
radian is powered by (π)thon.
Credits
radian wouldn't be possible without the creative work prompt_toolkit by Jonathan Slenders.
1 maintainer
Metadata
1 maintainer
Release files for radian 0.7.0
For a detailed explanation of source distributions (sdists) and built distributions (wheels), please see the package formats documentation.
Source distribution (sdist)
| File | Size | Uploaded | |
|---|---|---|---|
| radian-0.7.0.tar.gz | 58.0 kB | Details |
Release files / radian-0.7.0.tar.gz
| Download URL | radian-0.7.0.tar.gz |
|---|---|
| Size | 58.0 kB |
| Tags | Source |
|
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums |
55081f1021dd0987ae74af171c964e3b54602ab852a1b9e6fbe3aca56522101a
|
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| Uploaded via |
twine/7.0.0 CPython/3.11.16
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