knitr Support in Emacs (via ESS)

The latest version of ESS now includes support for knitr. This script is no longer necessary.

During my recent switch from vim to Emacs I discovered what a wonderful tool ESS is. It was fantastic for writing Rnw documents using Sweave, but seeing as I’m currently attempting another switch, from Sweave to knitr, I wanted support for that.

After a quick look at the ESS source code, I was able to write a quick script that gives ESS support for knitr.

Installation

• Download the Emacs lisp script below.
• Store it in a useful location, I stored it in the following path: ~/.emacs.d/ess-knitr/ess-knitr.el
• Import the script in your .emacs file. My configuration is the following:

;; Add support for knit and purl
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/ess-knitr/")
(require 'ess-knitr)

Note: This snippet should be included after the code that loads ESS.

Usage

• M-n r “knit” an Rnw document.
• M-n u “purl” an Rnw document.

Download

• knitr support in ESS