title: Why doesn't rm(ls()) work and "list" is needed?
body: <p>I just got started learning R with the "datacamp" site and I ran into a syntax misunderstanding at the beginning. </p>
  
  <p>It says that <code>rm(list = ls())</code> is a very useful command to clear everything from your workspace but I don't understand what <code>list =</code> is for. </p>
  
  <ul>
  <li><p>a. They haven't yet taught me the meaning of <code>=</code> in R and I didn't find an explanation at the documentation. <code>=</code> is like <code>&lt;-</code>? What's the difference? </p></li>
  <li><p>b. If the input of <code>rm()</code> can be a list of variables names, and the output of <code>ls()</code> is a list of var names, why can't I just use <code>rm(ls())</code>?</p></li>
  </ul>