Skip to content
Coming soon: Ally. Your guide to the world of AI and R. Learn More →
R for the Rest of Us Logo

Fundamentals of R

Start a New Project

Transcript

Click on the transcript to go to that point in the video. Please note that transcripts are auto generated and may contain minor inaccuracies.

Your Turn

  1. Create a new project in Positron

  2. Download data from https://rfor.us/penguins

  3. Copy the data into the Positron project

  4. Create a new R script file and add code to import your data (refer to Getting Started with R if necessary)

  5. Save your R script file

Have any questions? Put them below and we will help you out!

You need to be signed-in to comment on this post. Login.

Jonathan Han

Jonathan Han • March 19, 2026

Hi David,

unfortunately I am not able to convert the CSV file into a variable despite following the steps that you have outlined. Any idea what might be the cause of that? Thank you.

Gracielle Higino

Gracielle Higino Coach • March 19, 2026

Hi Jonathan! Can you share the exact code you used?

Caitlin McLemore

Caitlin McLemore • March 20, 2026

Hello,

I am using the following code, but in the variables window, it says "no variables have been created".

library(tidyverse)

read_csv("penguins.csv")

Caitlin McLemore

Caitlin McLemore • March 20, 2026

I tried adding penguins <= in front of read_csv("penguins.csv"), but was returning warning messages. I used Claude to help troubleshoot (asked "why" that wasn't working), and got a suggestion to use a dash instead of an equal sign. It worked! My code is below. Now I have a different question... why is it that in the video, the code showed as an equal sign (and worked), but for me, the code didn't work with an equal sign? Thanks for your thoughts.

library(tidyverse)

penguins <- read_csv("penguins.csv")

Gracielle Higino

Gracielle Higino Coach • March 21, 2026

Hi Caitlin! Can you point to the minute in the video you see an = sign to assign an object? In R you can either use a <- or a = to assign something to an object (and make it show on the variables panel). The <= sign is only read as a logical operator, "less or equal to".

Caitlin McLemore

Caitlin McLemore • March 23, 2026

In the video, at about 2:17. It might just be that the video isn't clear enough and I mistook a dah for an equals sign.

Caitlin McLemore

Caitlin McLemore • March 23, 2026

In the video, at about 2:17. It might just be that the video isn't clear enough and I mistook a dash for an equals sign.

Gracielle Higino

Gracielle Higino Coach • March 23, 2026

Yeah, that was a <- 😅 If the video quality is not super clear for you, try changing the resolution on the bottom-right of the video panel, where you see a ... on the left of the speed button (mine shows "2x").