title: In R, why does a variable with a name beginning with '.' not appear in my environment?
body: <p>In R when I assign a variable with a name starting with <code>.</code> such as <code>.a &lt;- 3</code>, it does not appear in my environment in R Studio. However, when I run the variable <code>.a</code>, it prints <code>3</code> to the console.</p>
  <p>Why is the variable <code>.a</code> not appearing in my environment but is still able to be accessed?</p>