File path issues in R using Windows Hex digits in character string error

Question

I run R on Windows  and have a csv file on the Desktop  I load it as follows   x lt -read csv  C  Users surfcat Desktop 2006 dissimilarity csv  header TRUE    but the R gives the following error message     Error    U  used without hex digits in character string starting  C  U    So what s the correct way to load this file  I am using Vista

User · Accepted Answer

replace all the   with      it s trying to escape the next character in this case the U so to insert a   you need to insert an escaped   which is

User · Answer

Please do not mark this response as correct as smitec has already answered correctly   I m including a convenience function I keep in my  First library that makes converting a windows path to the format that works in R  the methods described by Sacha Epskamp    Simply copy the path to your clipboard  ctrl   c  and then run the function as pathPrep     No need for an argument   The path is printed to your console correctly and written to your clipboard for easy pasting to a script   Hope this is helpful   pathPrep  lt - function path    clipboard         y  lt - if  path     clipboard             readClipboard         else           cat  Please enter the path  n n           readline             x  lt - chartr            y      writeClipboard x      return x

User · Answer

The best way to deal with this in case of txt file which contains data for text mining  speech  newsletter  etc   is to replace     with       Example    file lt -Corpus DirSource  C  Users PRATEEK Desktop training tool Text Analytics text file main

User · Answer

Replacing backslash with forward slash worked for me on Windows

User · Answer

Solution  Try this  x  lt - read csv  C  Users surfcat Desktop 2006 dissimilarity csv   header TRUE   Explanation  R is not able to understand normal windows paths correctly because the     has special meaning - it is used as escape character to give following characters special meaning   n for newline   t for tab   r for carriage return       have a look here      Because R does not know the sequence  U it complains  Just replace the     with     or use an additional      to escape the      from its special meaning and everything works smooth    Alternative  On windows  I think the best thing to do to improve your workflow with windows specific paths in R is to use e g  AutoHotkey which allows for custom hotkeys     define a Hotkey  e g  Cntr-Shift-V assigns it an procedure that replaces backslashes within your Clipboard with  slaches      when ever you want to copy paste a path into R you can use Cntr-Shift-V instead of Cntr-V Et-voila   AutoHotkey Code Snippet  link to homepage     v   StringReplace  clipboard  clipboard        All  SendInput   clipboard

User · Answer

A simple way is to use python  in python terminal type     r C  Users surfcat Desktop 2006 dissimilarity csv    and you ll get back    C  Users surfcat Desktop 2006 dissimilarity csv

User · Answer

Replace back slashes   with forward slashes   when running windows machine

User · Answer

I know this is really old  but if you are copying and pasting anyway  you can just use   read csv readClipboard      readClipboard   escapes the back-slashes for you  Just remember to make sure the   csv  is included in your copy  perhaps with this   read csv paste0 readClipboard     csv      And if you really want to minimize your typing you can use some functions   setWD  lt - function      setwd readClipboard        readCSV  lt - function      return readr  read csv paste0 readClipboard     csv          copy directory path setWD     copy file name df  lt - readCSV

User · Answer

My Solution is to define an RStudio snippet as follows   snippet pp       r gsub                             readClipboard        This snippet converts backslashes   into double backslashes     The following version will work if you prefer to convert backslahes to forward slashes     snippet pp       r gsub              readClipboard        Once your preferred snippet is defined  paste a path from the clipboard by typing p-p-TAB-ENTER  that is pp and then the tab key and then enter  and the path will be magically inserted with R friendly delimiters

User · Answer

readClipboard   works directly too  Copy the path into your clipboard  C  Users surfcat Desktop 2006 dissimilarity csv   Then  readClipboard     appears as   1   C   Users  surfcat  Desktop  2006 dissimilarity csv

User · Answer

I think that R is reading the     in the string as an escape character  For example  n creates a new line within a string   t creates a new tab within the string       will work because R will recognize this as a normal backslash

[r] File path issues in R using Windows ("Hex digits in character string" error)

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