How to call R from a Java program

Contents 1 Using JRI (from RJava) 1.1 Set up 1.2 Calling R 2 Other solutions 3 Helpful links

Using JRI (from RJava)

The RJava package also allows calling Java from R.

Set up

• In R, install the RJava package (necessary?)
• The RJava package includes the JRI.jar, but to get JRIEngine.jar and REngine.jar, go to JRI files download
• Add those 3 jars to your lib directory and classpath
• Make sure the R_HOME environment variable is set
  • Type $R_HOME on the command line to see if it is set and what it is set to
  • In eclipse, you can add environment variables to the run configuration
  • On a mac, add this line to your .profile file (in the root of your user directory, so ~/.profile)

export R_HOME=/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources

Calling R

Other solutions

• renjin this looks promising, a JVM-based interpreter for R, but still beta
• Rserve more complicated client/server setup, so more useful for lots of processes needing R
• Rcaller very simple, but looks clunky for doing anything more than a few lines in R

Helpful links

• Example with eclipse
• Example calling functions and assigning/returning values
• Setup for multiple IDEs and simple test case
• Where to get files