Command for "Set working directory to source file location"

Question

RStudio has a useful feature:

Session -> Set Working Directory -> To Source File Location

Is there a way to do this without using the drop down menus?

UPDATE:

maybe a better way of asking is:

is there a command to return the file path of the current r script?

I also found this thread, but the solutions didn't work for me. Not even Hadley's!

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 23 '14 at 00:48

2

You can use :

source("script.R", chdir = TRUE)

and change "script.R" by the name of the file you're interested in.

edited Oct 23 '14 at 00:48

hrbrmstr

answered Oct 23 '14 at 00:44

Romain

3

Thanks, this is close! But suppose I have started a new R file and saved it to a location. I then want to set the working directory to THAT file's location. I can't source the file without knowing the path -- which is the very problem we're trying to solve automatically. – Alex Coppock Oct 28 '14 at 22:02
R help said about 'chdir': if TRUE and file is a **pathname**, the R working directory is temporarily changed to the directory containing file for evaluating. – Faeze Jul 18 '16 at 13:07

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Sep 22 '16 at 17:29

1

pathwd<-sub("/filename","",system("find -perm -g=w -type f -name 'filename'",intern=T)[1])
setwd(pathwd)

Make sure your file's name is unique.

edited Sep 22 '16 at 17:29

Yasin Patel

answered Sep 22 '16 at 15:56

Ciro

> pathwd<-sub("/filename","",system("find -perm -g=w -type f -name 'filename'",intern=T)[1]) find: illegal option -- p usage: find [-H | -L | -P] [-EXdsx] [-f path] path ... [expression] find [-H | -L | -P] [-EXdsx] -f path [path ...] [expression] Warning message: running command 'find -perm -g=w -type f -name 'filename'' had status 1 – Alex Coppock Sep 23 '16 at 17:58
@AlexCoppock I would suggest that you might be using a Mac, and Ciro is on Linux. – Ricky McMaster Dec 07 '18 at 17:20

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 04 '15 at 15:21

0

This will work on most systems, it gets a little buggy with Macs.

dir <- dirname(parent.frame(2)$ofile)
setwd(dir)

answered Sep 04 '15 at 15:21

keberwein

1

Thanks for this -- I'm on a mac... `parent.frame(2)$ofile` is NULL for me. – Alex Coppock Sep 07 '15 at 23:38

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 07 '18 at 17:21

0

Slight variation on @Ciro's answer above, for Mac users:

pathwd<-sub("/dummy.R","",system("find . -type f -name dummy.R",intern=T)[1]) 
setwd(pathwd)

Replace dummy.R with your filename of course.

answered Dec 07 '18 at 17:21

Ricky McMaster

4 Answers4