This is a very simple example of how to embed R in Python. Other mechanisms are out there to do this (e.g. Rpy and pyRserve) but this might be useful if you have simple requirements and want to limit the number of dependencies you have.

Remember that if you are using this on a server, R is not reentrant, so this may be racy if you don't set it up right.

Introduction

The function defined here evaluates an arbitrary set of R expressions, and will return the result of the last if it is a string or vector of reals. Extending this to other types would be straight forward (though perhaps fiddly), but at the time of writing this was just a demonstration project.

Files

• init.h, init.cpp: Funcitons to setup and tear down R,
• library_attach.cpp: Calls the functions defined in init.h when the library is attached/detached,
• PythonEmbeddedR.cpp: Defines the one function of this package, and
• init.cpp: Defines the functions declared in init.h.

Compiling

On windows, you can just use the solution provided, after modifying the include and library paths (via project->properties) to suite your environment.

If your using GCC or any other compiler, then you can probably figure it out yourself (... and I mean that respectfully), though if you need a hand, please ask and I will document it.

Notes

You will need to have:

• The environment variable R_HOME set.
• The R shared library on the path.