whoami – retrieve user identity information in R

whoami is an R package that retrieves identity information about the current user. It provides functions for obtaining the username, full name, email address and GitHub username associated with a working environment.

The package gathers this information from several sources, including environment variables, operating system user records and Git configuration. It attempts to find suitable values without requiring applications to implement their own platform-specific identity discovery routines.

This is useful when generating reports, populating metadata, identifying the person running a script or supplying default author details in development workflows.

The package distinguishes between the username recognized by the operating system and the identity configured for development tools. These values may differ, particularly on machines used by multiple developers or systems running automated tasks.

This is free and open source software.

Key Features

• Retrieves the current user’s login name.
• Obtains the user’s full name from available system information.
• Reads email addresses from global Git configuration.
• Identifies GitHub usernames using environment variables or email-based lookups.
• Checks LOGNAME, USER, LNAME and USERNAME environment variables.
• Uses system identity commands when environment variables are unavailable.
• Provides separate functions for individual identity fields.
• Offers a combined function returning available user identity information.
• Supports different home directory arrangements when locating Git configuration.
• Can be integrated into scripts and development tools requiring user metadata.
• Cross-platform support – runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows.

Website: github.com/r-lib/whoami
Support:
Developer: Gábor Csárdi
License: MIT License

whoami is written in R. Learn R with our recommended free books and free tutorials.

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