I would like to execute a batch file from a R script. The file is in a directory like \\network\path\to\batch\file.bat.
I know I can use the system command in R to run DOS commands but I can't simply use system("start file.bat"). So how would I best use R script to execute this batch file?
Try shell.exec("\\\\network\\path\\file.bat")
The shell.exec command uses the Windows-associated application to open the file. Note the double back-ticks.
Pro tip: write.csv(file='tmp.csv',tmpdat);shell.exec('tmp.csv') is useful (assuming you've associated CSV files with your preferred application for viewing CSV files) for quickly checking output.
try shell('\network\path\to\batch\file.bat')
I found this problem when using RSelenium in Windows as well but using this batch file made sure to close all chromedriver processes. I was ending up with a ton of these processes after a lengthy scraping session.
My solution was to execute the batch file from within the R script every so often by using:
shell.exec(file.path(getwd(), "kill_chromedriver.bat"))
This is what I did on windows platform.
cmd='\\prj\\whatkit\\test.bat'
system(cmd, intern = TRUE, show.output.on.console = TRUE)
