Use variable in file path in R

Question

In bash I can do:

BLA=some/directory and then

MyFavoriteFile1=/some/path/to/$BLA/myfile1.someextension
MyFavoriteFile2=/some/path/to/$BLA/myfile2.someextension

I was wondering if the same does exist in R? So that I would only have to change BLA once in the whole script.

BrodieG · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-16 16:12:06Z

7

Use file.path:

dir <- file.path("some", "path")
bla <- file.path("some", "directory")
files <- c("file1.R", "file2.exe")

file.path(dir, bla, files)

Produces:

[1] "some/path/some/directory/file1.R"   "some/path/some/directory/file2.exe"

You could also use paste to generically concatenate strings, but file.path makes sure the correct directory separators are used for your OS, etc.

answered Apr 16, 2015 at 16:12

BrodieG

52.8k9 gold badges99 silver badges148 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Answer 1