CREATE_DELETE_MOVE_-AND-MORE-WITH-FILES.R

#CREATE, DELETE, MOVE, AND MORE WITH FILES
#How to get and change the current working directory
# set working directory
setwd("C:\\Users\\liyix\\OneDrive\\Desktop\\data_1")
# get current working directory
getwd()

## [1] "C:/Users/liyix/OneDrive/Desktop/data_1"

#Creating Files and Directories
dir.create("new_folder")
#creating a blank file can be done with file.create.
file.create("new_text_file.txt")

## [1] TRUE

file.create("new_word_file.docx")

## [1] TRUE

file.create("new_csv_file.csv")

## [1] TRUE

sapply(paste0("file", 1:3, ".txt"), file.create)

## file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt 
##      TRUE      TRUE      TRUE

#Copying a file / folder
file.copy("file1.txt", "new_folder")

## [1] TRUE

#How to list all the files in a directory
# list all files in current directory
list.files()

## [1] "file1.txt"          "file2.txt"          "file3.txt"         
## [4] "new_csv_file.csv"   "new_folder"         "new_text_file.txt" 
## [7] "new_word_file.docx"

list.files(recursive = TRUE)

## [1] "file1.txt"            "file2.txt"            "file3.txt"           
## [4] "new_csv_file.csv"     "new_folder/file1.txt" "new_text_file.txt"   
## [7] "new_word_file.docx"

list.files(full.names = TRUE, recursive = TRUE)

## [1] "./file1.txt"            "./file2.txt"            "./file3.txt"           
## [4] "./new_csv_file.csv"     "./new_folder/file1.txt" "./new_text_file.txt"   
## [7] "./new_word_file.docx"

#################################
# list all CSV files non-recursively
list.files(pattern = ".csv")

## [1] "new_csv_file.csv"

# read in all the CSV files
#all_data_frames <- lapply(list.files(pattern = ".csv"), read.csv)
#all_data_frames
# stack all data frames together
#single_data_frame <- Reduce(rbind, all_data_frames)
#How to get created / modified times and other details about files
snapshot <- fileSnapshot()
snapshot$info

##                    size isdir mode               mtime               ctime
## file1.txt             0 FALSE  666 2022-01-08 22:35:21 2022-01-08 22:35:21
## file2.txt             0 FALSE  666 2022-01-08 22:35:21 2022-01-08 22:35:21
## file3.txt             0 FALSE  666 2022-01-08 22:35:21 2022-01-08 22:35:21
## new_csv_file.csv      0 FALSE  666 2022-01-08 22:35:21 2022-01-08 22:35:21
## new_folder            0  TRUE  777 2022-01-08 22:35:21 2022-01-08 22:35:21
## new_text_file.txt     0 FALSE  666 2022-01-08 22:35:21 2022-01-08 22:35:21
## new_word_file.docx    0 FALSE  666 2022-01-08 22:35:21 2022-01-08 22:20:09
##                                  atime exe
## file1.txt          2022-01-08 22:35:21  no
## file2.txt          2022-01-08 22:35:21  no
## file3.txt          2022-01-08 22:35:21  no
## new_csv_file.csv   2022-01-08 22:35:21  no
## new_folder         2022-01-08 22:35:21  no
## new_text_file.txt  2022-01-08 22:35:21  no
## new_word_file.docx 2022-01-08 22:35:21  no

file.info("new_csv_file.csv")

##                  size isdir mode               mtime               ctime
## new_csv_file.csv    0 FALSE  666 2022-01-08 22:35:21 2022-01-08 22:35:21
##                                atime exe
## new_csv_file.csv 2022-01-08 22:35:21  no

file.mtime("new_csv_file.csv")

## [1] "2022-01-08 22:35:21 EST"

# delete a file
unlink("new_csv_file.csv")
# delete another file
file.remove("new_text_file.txt")

## [1] TRUE

sapply(paste0("file", 1:3, ".txt"), unlink)

## file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt 
##         0         0         0

#How to check if a file or directory exists
# check if a folder exists
file.exists("file2.txt")

## [1] FALSE

# alternatively, check if a folder exists with dir.exists
dir.exists("new_folder")

## [1] TRUE

#How to get the base name of a file
basename("file2.txt")

## [1] "file2.txt"

dirname("file1.txt")

## [1] "."

#How to physically open a file
# use shell.exec...
#shell.exec("file2.txt")
# or file.show to launch a file
#file.show("file2.txt")
#How to open a file selection window
#file.choose()
#ref http://theautomatic.net/2018/07/11/manipulate-files-r/