Files

Before we start working with files we need to set working directory using setwd() function. When we set working directory, all the files will be automatically stored there.

Functions

Here is few functions that might be handy while working with files.

getwd() returns current working directory.

setwd() sets current working directory. For example setwd("/Users/ondrej/R/examples") will change working directory to "/Users/ondrej/R/examples".

file.exists("raw-data.csv") checks whether a file exists.

dir.create("temp") creates a new directory in working directory.

download.file() downloads file to working directory.

url <- "https://data.baltimorecity.gov/api/views/dz54-2aru/rows.csv?accessType=DOWNLOAD"
download.file(url, destfile="./rows.csv", method="curl")

list.files(".") lists files in working directory.

readLines reads file into memory

load will read binary data

file.remove(...) removes a file

More info is here.