clearRequire: Clear cached package tarballs

In Require: Installing and Loading R Packages for Reproducible Workflows

Clear cached package tarballs

Description

Removes downloaded package archives from the cache that cachePkgDir() returns. With usePak = TRUE (the default) this delegates to pak::cache_clean() (no packages arg) or pak::cache_delete(package = ...) (selective). With usePak = FALSE it walks Require's legacy bookkeeping dir and unlinks tarballs there.

Usage

cacheClearPackages(
  packages,
  ask = interactive(),
  Rversion = versionMajorMinor(),
  clearCranCache = FALSE,
  verbose = getOption("Require.verbose")
)

clearRequirePackageCache(
  packages,
  ask = interactive(),
  Rversion = versionMajorMinor(),
  clearCranCache = FALSE,
  verbose = getOption("Require.verbose")
)

Arguments

packages	Either missing or a character vector of package names (currently cannot specify version number) to remove from the cache.
ask	Logical. If TRUE, asks the user to confirm before deleting.
Rversion	An R version (major.minor, e.g., "4.2"). Defaults to the current R version. Ignored under usePak = TRUE – see "Migration note".
clearCranCache	Logical. If TRUE, also clears the local crancache cache, which is only relevant if options(Require.useCranCache = TRUE).
verbose	Numeric or logical indicating how verbose should the function be. If -1 or -2, then as little verbosity as possible. If 0 or FALSE, then minimal outputs; if 1 or TRUE, more outputs; 2 even more. NOTE: in Require function, when verbose >= 2, also returns details as if returnDetails = TRUE (for backwards compatibility).

Details

Require's own bookkeeping (SHA DB, mirrors.csv, available.packages snapshots) is preserved by this function; use cachePurge() to clear those as well.

clearRequirePackageCache() is a deprecated alias.

Migration note

The Rversion parameter is honoured only on the legacy path – pak's cache is not partitioned by R version the way Require's cache was, so pak::cache_clean()/pak::cache_delete() operate on the whole cache regardless of Rversion. The function emits a verbose note when Rversion != versionMajorMinor() under usePak = TRUE.

Require documentation built on May 16, 2026, 1:06 a.m.