How To Install R on Ubuntu 18.04 [Quickstart]

Introduction

R is an open-source programming language that specializes in statistical computing and graphics. In this tutorial, we will install R on an Ubuntu 18.04 server.

For a more detailed version of this tutorial, with better explanations of each step, please refer to How To Install R on Ubuntu 18.04.

Step 1 — Add GPG Key

Logged into your Ubuntu 18.04 server as a sudo non-root user, add the relevant GPG key.
sudo apt-key adv –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com –recv-keys E298A3A825C0D65DFD57CBB651716619E084DAB9

Step 2 — Add the R Repository
sudo add-apt-repository ‘deb https://cloud.r-project.org/bin/linux/ubuntu bionic-cran35/’

If you’re not using 18.04, find the relevant repository from the R Project Ubuntu list, named for each release.

Step 3 — Update Package Lists
sudo apt update

Step 4 — Install R
sudo apt install r-base

If prompted to confirm installation, press y to continue.

Step 5 — Test Install

Start R’s interactive shell as root.
sudo -i R

You should receive output similar to the following:
Output
R version 3.5.1 (2018-07-02) — “Feather Spray”
Copyright (C) 2018 The R Foundation for Statistical Computing
Platform: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu (64-bit)
…
Type ‘demo()’ for some demos, ‘help()’ for on-line help, or
‘help.start()’ for an HTML browser interface to help.
Type ‘q()’ to quit R.

This confirms that we’ve successfully installed R and entered its interactive shell.