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I usually switch between Windows and Mac while accessing my R codes from Google Drive. One of the repetitive tasks I need to do whenever I switch between my desktop and laptop is to (un-)comment the file path to the respective directories where my google drive is located. Can anyone share an automation code on how to do this? I am already doing this in Stata.

AlxRd
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    I've solved this by creating a Rstudio project file and access/write all files relative to that project folder. It doesn't depend on OS. – Roman Luštrik Feb 12 '16 at 17:00
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    Possible duplicate of [detecting operating system in R (e.g. for adaptive .Rprofile files)](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4463087/detecting-operating-system-in-r-e-g-for-adaptive-rprofile-files) – CL. Feb 12 '16 at 17:01
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    For what it's worth, the control-flow syntax is `if (cond) x else if (cond2) y` as covered in the introductory materials for the R language. – Frank Feb 12 '16 at 17:19

2 Answers2

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That's my solution:

setwd(ifelse(.Platform$OS.type=="unix", "/Users/.../Google Drive", "C:/Users/.../Google Drive/"))
erc
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4

Usually, for each project or analysis that I start I use a "config-like" R file which looks more or less like this:

.job <- list ()

## rootDir in my laptop
.job$base_data_dir <- file.path ("", "home", "dmontaner", "datos")

## rootDir in my server
##.job$base_data_dir <- file.path ("", "scratch", "datos")

In this "config" file I set the root directory where I am keeping the data in each machine. I keep a different "config" file in each machine and do not synchronize them via dropbox.

Then I start my R scripts with this line:

try (source (".job.r"))

and when I have to address any file or folder I do:

setwd (file.path (.job$base_data_dir, "raw_data"))
...
setwd (file.path (.job$base_data_dir, "results"))

Like this, if you keep the internal structure of the data directory in both machines, you are able to set the base or root dir where it is allocated and reach the data in both machines.

Also the file.path function takes care of the changes in operative system.

In the R session I call the config variable starting with a dot for it to be a hidden variable so I do not see it when I do a ls () or similar things.

dmontaner
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