Read command line parameters from an R script

0 votes

In a R script I would like to apply various command line parameters.

The script runs on Windows.

I'm not able to find how to read parameters applied on the command line to R-script.

Any suggestions on how to do this?

Apr 17, 2018 in Data Analytics by BHARANI
• 420 points
3,596 views

1 answer to this question.

0 votes

Here's an example to explain :

Two files are created: example.bat and example.R

  • example.bat:

    set R_Script="C:\Program Files\R-3.0.2\bin\RScript.exe"
    %R_Script% example.R 2018-01-28 example 100 > example.batch 2>&1

    Alternatively, using Rterm.exe:

    set R_TERM="C:\Program Files\R-3.0.2\bin\i386\Rterm.exe"
    %R_TERM% --no-restore --no-save --args 2018-01-28 example 100 < example.R > example.batch 2>&1
  • example.R:

    options(echo=TRUE) # To see commands in output file
    args <- commandArgs(trailingOnly = TRUE)
    print(args)
    # trailingOnly=TRUE this means that only your arguments are returned, 
     # To check you can use:
     # print(commandArgs(trailingOnly=FALSE))

start_date <- as.Date(args[1])
name <- args[2]
n <- as.integer(args[3])
rm(args)

# Few computations:
x <- rnorm(n)
png(paste(name,".png",sep=""))
plot(start_date+(1L:n), x)
dev.off()

summary(x)

Now, save both files in the same directory and start example.bat. In the result you'll get:

  • example.png with some plot
  • example.batch with all that was done

You can add an environment variable %R_Script%:

"C:\Program Files\R-3.0.2\bin\RScript.exe"

And then use it in your batch scripts as %R_Script% <filename.r> <arguments>

Differences between RScript and Rterm:

answered Apr 17, 2018 by kappa3010
• 2,090 points

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