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using paste and "\" to create a valid filename

9 messages · Uwe Ligges, Dirk Eddelbuettel, Bert Gunter +3 more

Original
roger bos
# 
Sometimes even the easy stuff is difficult (for me)... I want to get
input from different places to paste together an excel filename (so
you know I'm using windows) that I can open with RODBC.  I know about
using double "\" since its an escape character, but I get either 2 or
none, I can't get just one "\" where I need it.  See example code
below.  I am using R 2.1.0, but plan to upgrade soon.  Thanks in
advance to anyone who can help.

Roger


rankPath <- "R:\New Ranks\SMC\SMC"				
rankDate <- "20050819"				
rankFile <- paste(rankPath,rankDate,".xls", sep="")
rankFile
[1] "R:New RanksSMCSMC20050819.xls"


rankPath <- "R:\\New Ranks\\SMC\\SMC"				
rankDate <- "20050819"				
rankFile <- paste(rankPath,rankDate,".xls", sep="")
rankFile
[1] "R:\\New Ranks\\SMC\\SMC20050819.xls"
Uwe Ligges
#
roger bos wrote:

            

      
      
      
    

        
This is perfect, "\" is *printed* escaped, hence for file access you can 
perfectly use this character vector.

Uwe Ligges

        

      
      
    

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Dirk Eddelbuettel
    

    

      
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roger bos <roger.bos <at> gmail.com> writes:

            

      
      
      
    

        
Have you considered 
  a) the file.path() function,
  b) the fact that forward slashes also work on Windoze?

Your first example, with an outer paste() for the suffix:

            

      
      
      
    

        
[1] "R:/New Ranks/SMC/SMC/20050819.xls"

            

      
      
      
    

        
Hth, Dirk

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Bert Gunter
    

    

      
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... and you can see that the "\\" is correct by cat(rankFile) instead of
print(rankFile), which is what entering the variable at the prompt actually
does.

-- Bert Gunter
Genentech Non-Clinical Statistics
South San Francisco, CA
 
"The business of the statistician is to catalyze the scientific learning
process."  - George E. P. Box

            

      
      
      
    

        

      
      
    

        

      
      
    

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      roger bos
    

    

      
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I was surprise myself that I was having problems, because I have been
doing this for ahile, but I get erros with the RODBC connection.  For
example,

rankFile <- paste("R:\\New Ranks\\SMC\\SMC\\",rankDate,".xls", sep="")				
			rankFile
			xls <- odbcConnectExcel(rankFile)
			xls
			rankFile <- "R:\New Ranks\SMC\SMC\20050818.xls"			
			rankFile
			xls <- odbcConnectExcel(rankFile)
			xls


You won't have my filename, but feel free to try it with any excel
file you may have. Here is the R output.

            

      
      
      
    

        
[1] "R:\\New Ranks\\SMC\\SMC\\20050819.xls"

            

      
      
      
    

        
Warning messages:
1: [RODBC] ERROR: Could not SQLDriverConnect 
2: ODBC connection failed in: odbcDriverConnect(con)

            

      
      
      
    

        
[1] -1

            

      
      
      
    

        
[1] "R:New RanksSMCSMC?50818.xls"

            

      
      
      
    

        
RODB Connection 15
Details:
  case=nochange
  DBQ=R:New RanksSMCSMC?50818.xls
  DefaultDir=R:\NEW RANKS\SMC
  Driver={Microsoft Excel Driver (*.xls)}
  DriverId=790
  MaxBufferSize=2048
  PageTimeout=5

            

      
      
      
    

        

        
On 8/19/05, Uwe Ligges <ligges at statistik.uni-dortmund.de> wrote:

            

      
      
      
    

        

      
      
    

            

      
      
      
    

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Jeff Gentry
    

    

      
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Using file.path() might be an easier solution for this (and it will allow
your code to work in a cross-platform manner)

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Uwe Ligges
    

    

      
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Don't know about the details with RODBC here, why not just use forward 
slashes as in (used it in all of my courses and never tried "\\" 
before....):

rankFile <- paste("R:/New Ranks/SMC/SMC/", rankDate, ".xls", sep="")		

Uwe Ligges

        
roger bos wrote:

        

            

      
      
      
    

        

      
      
    

            

      
      
      
    

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      roger bos
    

    

      
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Thanks Uwe for the forward slash suggestion, that worked.  I believe
something has changed inside the RODBC package, because I ran the
following code this morning to update my packages:

x <- packageStatus(repositories="http://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib")
st <- x$avai["Status"]
install.packages(rownames(st)[which(st$Status=="not installed")])

I don't know if RODBC was updated and I am not even sure how to find
out, but my old code works on my machine I didn't update and doesn't
work on the machine I did update.  I am not confident enough to file a
bug report, but I know something has changed.  I will use the forward
slash as a workaround for now.

Thanks again to everyone,  Roger

        
On 8/19/05, Uwe Ligges <ligges at statistik.uni-dortmund.de> wrote:

            

      
      
      
    

        

      
      
    

            

      
      
      
    

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Brian Ripley
    

    

      
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On Fri, 19 Aug 2005, roger bos wrote:

        

            

      
      
      
    

        
Works for me:

            

      
      
      
    

        
RODB Connection 1
Details:
   case=nochange
   DBQ=c:\bdr\hills.xls
   DefaultDir=c:\bdr
   Driver={Microsoft Excel Driver (*.xls)}
   DriverId=790
   MaxBufferSize=2048
   PageTimeout=5

            

      
      
      
    

        
[1] -1
Warning messages:
1: [RODBC] ERROR: Could not SQLDriverConnect
2: ODBC connection failed in: odbcDriverConnect(con)

Please use / as the path separator and become less confused.