I run R on Windows, and have a csv file on the Desktop. I load it as follows,
x<-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
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 \\
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 <- function(path = "clipboard") {
y <- if (path == "clipboard") {
readClipboard()
} else {
cat("Please enter the path:\n\n")
readline()
}
x <- chartr("\\", "/", y)
writeClipboard(x)
return(x)
}
Solution
Try this: x <- 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:
AutoHotkey Code Snippet (link to homepage)
^+v::
StringReplace, clipboard, clipboard, \, /, All
SendInput, %clipboard%
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.
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 <- function(){
setwd(readClipboard())
}
readCSV <- function(){
return(readr::read_csv(paste0(readClipboard(),'.csv')))
}
#copy directory path
setWD()
#copy file name
df <- readCSV()
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<-Corpus(DirSource("C:/Users/PRATEEK/Desktop/training tool/Text Analytics/text_file_main"))
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.
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"
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'
