[R] Using command line --file or -f

Duncan Murdoch
Wed, 11 Aug 2010 20:37:47 -0000

On 11/08/2010 4:13 PM, Gene Leynes wrote:
> *What I want to do:
> *Create a windows shortcut that will start the R gui  **and**
> simultaneously source a file
>
> *What I have already tried:
> *This almost works, but it's not the interactive R GUI:
>      R --no-save --sdi -file="C:\SomePath\example.R"
> These open the R GUI, but doesn't recognize -f --f --file -file
>      RGUI --no-save --sdi -file="C:\SomePath\example.R"
>      RGUI --no-save --sdi -f "C:\SomePath\example.R"
>      I've thought about suppressing the error and then parsing
> commandArgs()...
>      Although this may be possible, it seems preposterously overly
> complicated.
>
> *My last resort:
> *   Having an entire installation of R with a "Rprofile.site"
that will
> source my program.  The whole installation would be devoted to just running
> that one program.  I think it will work, but it's an annoying waste of
> space, and confusing to have multiple R installation.

A much simpler approach would be to create a script file of some sort
that takes the name of the file, sticks it into the environment variable
  R_PROFILE_USER, then starts Rgui.  If you've already got a user
profile set, then I think you'll need to use one of your more elaborate
schemes.   I'd put the filename onto the Rgui command line after --args,
then my user profile would use commandArgs() to check to see if anything
was there and would source it.

Duncan Murdoch

>
>
> Thank you very much!
>
>
> What I'm using:
>    Right now, R 2.10 on Windows 7, but I'm happy to use any version.
My
> intended audience will be using Windows 7
>
> I've spent a fair amount of time searching the online help using my
favorite
> help sites:
> http://r-project.markmail.org/
> http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/R-help-f789696.html
>
> I've also looked at the PDFs that come with r, especially the R-intro
(which
> is where I got the --f and --file ideas).
>
> Sometimes I see help responses that just point to the chapter of a book, or
> a PDF on Cran.  I would be delighted to discover my own answer in the
> available materials, but please give some hint about why the cited material
> is relevant!
>
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>
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