Assignment Operators

Assignment Operators

R conventionally uses <- for assignment, though = also works in most contexts. <- is preferred by style guides because it's unambiguous everywhere, including inside function calls where = has a different meaning (naming an argument). The right-pointing -> is also valid and assigns from left to right.

Warning: Inside a function call, f(x = 1) sets a named argument, not a variable assignment -- use <- when you actually mean assignment.

Example: Assignment Operators

x <- 10
y = 20
30 -> z

cat(x, y, z, "\n")