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I'm using Rscript to run a plot as follows: 

x=1:10 
y=1:10 
plot(x,y)

I expect this code to popup a window with a graphic showing the plot when I run the code like this:

Rscript plot.R

The program finishes to completion, and the graphic does not appear, not even momentarily. I know this code is right because it does produce a plot in the Rstudio GUI.

Does Rscript have a feature to popup that plot automatically on execution?

Eric Leschinski
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    The interactive graphics devices are OS dependent. On Windows it's `windows`; on OSX it's `quartz`; on Linux, `x11`. – IRTFM Mar 02 '17 at 00:37
  • @42-, do you think it'd be a good idea to use `Sys.info()['sysname']` and then use appropriate device conditionally? – d.b Mar 02 '17 at 02:34
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    Not a bad idea. I think most of the code I have seen that does that sort of thing uses `.Platform$OS.type` or `.Platform$GUI` – IRTFM Mar 02 '17 at 20:17

1 Answers1

15

Example 1: Pop up the graphics window directly from Rscript using tcltk

Edit from 6 years in the future: tcltk used to be the standard for R display interface but now tcltk is depreciated. Use Example 2:

library(tcltk)      #you have to install tcltk for your OS
x=1:10 
y=1:10 
windows()           #Use X11() or quartz() if on linux or mac.
plot(x,y)
prompt  <- "hit spacebar to close plots"
extra   <- "some extra comment"
capture <- tk_messageBox(message = prompt, detail = extra)

The above code presents the plot in a popup window and waits for you to press ok on the dialog. If that doesn't work because tcltk or its interface between R and your screen doesn't work, you can do it manually from your terminal as follows by having R asking the OS to 'open the file for presentation':

Example 2: Pop up the graphics window from Rscript using browseURL

#Tested on R version 4.2.1
png("mygraphic.png")     #Create a png file
x = 1:10
print(x^2)
plot(x, x^2, 'o')        #Plot x on the horizontal and x^2 on the vertical
print("done")
dev.off()
browseURL("mygraphic.png")    #R uses the terminal to tell the 
                              #OS to open mygraphic.png

The above R code saves the png to disk as mygraphic.png and asks the operating system to open the file in the program designated for that filetype. If it doesn't work open the file manually. To change the program a .png file opens with, has to be done by going to to your OS's system settings which is dependent on your operating system. I make a custom keymapping at the OS level for Alt-w to alt-F4 then I can edit the code, run it, pop the window, dismiss and get back to the editor, all in under 600 milliseconds without touching the mouse.

Example 3: Pop up the graphic using system() terminal

#Tested on R version 4.2.1 
png("mygif.png")     #Create a png file 
x = 1:10 
plot(x, x^5, 'o')        #Plot x on the horizontal and x^5 on the vertical 
dev.off() 

#replace the word 'animate' with your favorite paint/image/gif editor.
system("animate mygif.png")    #R uses the terminal to tell the 
                               #OS to open your image/gif

Example 3 is the best. Expecting Rscript to be a display manager is doubleplusungood.

Eric Leschinski
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    your second method is actually a nice workaround. But the first one does not work for me. The `library(tcltk)` returns [this error](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11875307/how-to-install-tcltk-in-r). Tried installing tcl-tk with homebrew but it di not help either. – Foad S. Farimani May 10 '18 at 00:32
  • Ok I found the solution from [here](https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-science/issues/2683). R needs to be installed with `brew reinstall r --with-openblas`. – Foad S. Farimani May 10 '18 at 00:41
  • @Foad `library("tcltk")` should work (`"tcltk"` instead of `tcltk`). Make sure you have the library installed by typing `install.packages("tcltk")` in the `R` prompt. – Gark Garcia Mar 06 '19 at 16:20
  • Thanks, I have implemented the pop-up graphics instead. Which is easy and neat no library needed. – Royce Nov 30 '20 at 10:48