64 bit - How can I know if R is running on 64 bits versus 32?

Question

My version output is:

> version
               _                            
platform       x86_64-w64-mingw32           
arch           x86_64                       
os             mingw32                      
system         x86_64, mingw32              
status                                      
major          2                            
minor          15.2                         
year           2012                         
month          10                           
day            26                           
svn rev        61015                        
language       R                            
version.string R version 2.15.2 (2012-10-26)
nickname       Trick or Treat    

where os is mingw32. Does that mean I'm using only 32 bits? How can I change that?

Answer 1

Here are a few ways:

• Sys.getenv("R_ARCH") returns either "/i386" or "/x64" at least on my Windows system (but not on my Ubuntu system where it returns an empty string)

• Sys.info()[["machine"]] returns "x86_32" or "x86_64" on my Windows and Ubuntu systems.

Updated: With additional method.