Question

The function dir() (same as the list.files function) can be used to list files in a directory. Read the help file on the dir() function. Write code that will allow you to list the files in a directory and all subdirectories. Include the code in your answer.

Answer 1

Let us setup this test directory structure

C:UsersjhollaDesktop ry--> having

2 sub directories dir1 and dir2 and some files

further dir1 has a subdirectory dir11 and some fiiles

The following R code lists the files and the subdirectories

R code (all statements starting with # are comments)

#use path= to give the starting directory,
#   note the reverse "/" which separates the directory names
# use recursive=TRUE to list the subdirectories
dir(path='C:/Users/jholla/Desktop/try',recursive=TRUE)

#output is

the listing has the files in the directory C:UsersjhollaDesktop ry and the sub directories under it.

if we use the recursive=FALSE (this is the default and hence omitting this also has the same effect), we get

#use path= to give the starting directory,
#   note the reverse "/" which separates the directory names
# use recursive=TRUE to list the subdirectories
dir(path='C:/Users/jholla/Desktop/try')

#get the following

Suppose we set the directory first to C:UsersjhollaDesktop ry . a dot as the path, (path='.'), would list the current directory.

#change the directory to the desired path
setwd('C:/Users/jholla/Desktop/try')
#use path= to give the starting directory,
#   note the reverse "/" which separates the directory names
# use recursive=TRUE to list the subdirectories
dir(path='.',recursive=TRUE)

# get the output