How do I clear only a few specific objects from the workspace?

I would like to remove some data from the workspace. I know the "Clear All" button will remove all data. However, I would like to remove just certain data.

For example, I have these data frames in the data section:

data
data_1
data_2
data_3

I would like to remove data_1, data_2 and data_3, while keeping data.

I tried data_1 <- data_2 <- data_3 <- NULL, which does remove the data (I think), but still keeps it in the workspace area, so it is not fully what I would like to do.

Solution 1:

You'll find the answer by typing ?rm

rm(data_1, data_2, data_3)

Solution 2:

A useful way to remove a whole set of named-alike objects:

rm(list = ls()[grep("^tmp", ls())])

thereby removing all objects whose name begins with the string "tmp".

Edit: Following Gsee's comment, making use of the pattern argument:

rm(list = ls(pattern = "^tmp"))

Edit: Answering Rafael comment, one way to retain only a subset of objects is to name the data you want to retain with a specific pattern. For example if you wanted to remove all objects whose name do not start with paper you would issue the following command:

rm(list = grep("^paper", ls(), value = TRUE, invert = TRUE))