[R] Problem with download.file ?

Giles Crane
Fri, 27 Mar 2015 14:25:56 -0000

# download.file() Seems to put the xlsx file onto hard drive.

>download.file("http://www.udel.edu/johnmack/data_library/zipcode_centroids.xlsx",
"zipcode_centroids.xlsx")
trying URL
'http://www.udel.edu/johnmack/data_library/zipcode_centroids.xlsx'
Content type
'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet'
length 2785832 bytes (2.7 Mb)
opened URL
downloaded 2.7 Mb


# Trouble reading file with xlsx.

library(xlsx)
Loading required package: rJava
Loading required package: xlsxjars
Warning messages:
1: package ?xlsx? was built under R version 3.1.3
2: package ?rJava? was built under R version 3.1.3

>df <- read.xlsx2("zipcode_centroids.xlsx", sheetIndex=1)
Error in .jcall("RJavaTools", "Ljava/lang/Object;",
"invokeMethod", cl,  :
   java.util.zip.ZipException: invalid entry size (expected 1168 but got 1173
bytes)


# I downloaded the file manually (same name) from the web page and tried again.
# Then I read the file into R with xlsx successfully.


>df <- read.xlsx2("/zipdist/zipcode_centroids.xlsx",
sheetIndex=1)
>str(df)
'data.frame':	42961 obs. of  8 variables:
  $ ZIPCODE  : Factor w/ 42961 levels "01001","01002",..: 1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ...
  $ TOWN.    : Factor w/ 18955 levels
"Aaronsburg","Abbeville",..: 85 333 333 333 898 1089 1459
1620 1899 2929 ...
  $ STATE    : Factor w/ 52 levels
"AK","AL","AR",..: 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21
...
  $ LATITUDE : Factor w/ 37352 levels
"-7.209975","19.101978",..: 28020 28948 28916 28971 29047
28624 28326 28418 28197 28603 ...
  $ LONGITUDE: Factor w/ 37241 levels
"-100.00991","-100.02632",..: 8799 8706 8811 8715 8470 8639
9019 8608 8531 9065 ...
  $ STFIPS   : Factor w/ 51 levels
"01","02","04",..: 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22
...
  $ CD       : Factor w/ 55 levels
"00","01","02",..: 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 2 ...
  $ CONG_DIST: Factor w/ 436 levels "01_01","01_02",..: 191
190 190 190 190 190 190 191 191 190 ...

# Is there a problem with download.file() when file is an Excel file or this
particular Excel file?

--
Giles L Crane, MPH, ASA, NJPHA
Statistical Consultant and R Instructor
621 Lake Drive
Princeton, NJ  08540
Phone: 609 924-0971
Email: gilescrane at verizon.net


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