Why not cntrl+z for reversing data changes in dataframe?

[taras]

@mara

This is why you’ll notice that in reproducible analysis workflows (e.g. this one by Joris Muller) raw data and “produced” or manipulated data are kept separately.

I agree with @mara here: I've always been saving any manipulated object as a new object exactly because I didn't know how else to "undo" the change; and once you adhere to it - there shouldn't be any problem...

@Harikrishna

I was following the same process of saving the state of the dataframe into a new one and then reassigning to old one for reversing the changes.

I wonder if some of the changes you make "experimenting" even have to go into your script. I mean, feel free to play with the data in the console without assigning it to an object, look at the outputs, and when ready and sure - add to the script.
I think this could work on some 1 or 2 step modifications. Wouldn't work if you go down the rabbit hole right away though...

@Harikrishna

which is very time consuming to rerun the script

I totally agree that sometimes it is very time-consuming to re-run the script. However, personally, I find this process to be the best way to ensure that my script is correct and it is going to run again tomorrow. Restarting the session is one of the most frequent things I do.

Reminds me of this thread:

First line of every R script?

I agree with @greg - it's way better to do this outside of your script than inside of it. Apart from objects and packages there are many other global settings (e.g. options(), par(), environment variables) that won't get cleanly reset. I also highly recommend never saving or loading your workspace: [25 PM] That ensures you always get a clean slate when you restart RStudio, and forces you to record all important steps in code.