ReadWriter

Functions to read and write table or text files conveniently. Complements the new CodeAndRoll2.

News

• The underlying gdata removed read.xls, and this is resolved in v1.0.0 by using openxlsx.
• As of 11/2023 you may need install_github(repo = "vertesy/ReadWriter@main") instead of install_github(repo = "vertesy/ReadWriter") to install the package on some platforms.

Installation

Install directly from GitHub via devtools with one R command:

# install.packages("devtools"); # If you don't have it.
require("devtools")
devtools::install_github(repo = "vertesy/Stringendo", ref = "main", upgrade = F)
devtools::install_github(repo = "vertesy/ReadWriter", ref = "main")

"As of 11/2023 you may need:"
devtools::install_github(repo = "vertesy/ReadWriter@main", ref = "main")

...then simply load the package:

require("ReadWriter")

Alternatively, you simply source it from the web. This way function help will not work, and you will have no local copy of the code on your hard drive.

source("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vertesy/ReadWriter/main/R/ReadWriter.R")

Troubleshooting

If you encounter a bug, something doesn't work or unclear, please let me know by raising an issue on ReadWriter – Please check if it has been asked.

List of Functions in ReadWriter.R (22)

Updated: 2026/05/14 01:15

• 1 column.2.row.names()

Convert a Column to Row Names in a Tibble or DataFrame. Converts the first column (or a specified column) of a data frame or tibble into row names. This function differs from tibble::column_to_rownames in that it takes column names or indices, offers the option to sanitize row names using make.names, and provides a warning if there are duplicated values in the row name column.

• 2 FirstCol2RowNames()

FirstCol2RowNames. Set first column to row names.

• 3 FirstCol2RowNames.as.df()

FirstCol2RowNames.as.df. Set first column to row names.

• 4 construct.file.path()

Construct File Path. Constructs a complete file path using either provided manual file name and directory or defaults to processing a given filename and using the current working directory. At least one of filename or manual_file_name must be supplied.

• 5 read.simple.vec()

read.simple.vec. Read each line of a file to an element of a vector (read in newline-separated values, no header!).

• 6 read.simple()

read.simple. Essentially read.table() with file/path parsing.

• 7 read.simple_char_list()

read.simple_char_list. Read in a file.

• 8 read.simple.table()

read.simple.table. Read a file. Default: header defines column names, no row names. For row names give the column number with row names, e.g., 1. The header should start with a TAB; the first column name should be empty.

• 9 read.simple.tsv()

read.simple.tsv. Read in a file with Excel-style data: row names in column 1, headers shifted. The header should start with a TAB; the first column name should be empty.

• 10 read.simple.csv()

read.simple.csv. Read in a file with Excel-style data: row names in column 1, headers shifted. The header should start with a TAB; the first column name should be empty.

• 11 read.simple.csv.named.vector()

read.simple.csv.named.vector. Read in a data frame (CSV), extract a value and a name column, and convert them to a named vector. By default, it assumes the names are in the first column and the values in the second. For Excel-style named vectors, names are in column 1 and headers are shifted. The header should start with a TAB; the first column name should be empty.

• 12 read.simple.ssv()

read.simple.ssv. Space separated values. Read in a file with Excel-style data: row names in column 1, headers shifted. The header should start with a TAB; the first column name should be empty.

• 13 read.simple.tsv.named.vector()

read.simple.tsv.named.vector. Read in a file with Excel-style named vectors, names in column 1, headers shifted. The header should start with a TAB; the first column name should be empty.

• 14 read.simple.xlsx()

Read a multi-sheet XLSX easily. Reads specified sheets from an XLSX file into a list of data frames. It allows customization of column names, row names, and trimming of whitespace.

• 15 write.simplest()

Append or write a vector to a standard file, one element per line.. Alternative to the clipboard. This function takes a vector and appends it to a specified file.

• 16 write.simple()

Write Simple. Writes a matrix-like R object (e.g., a data frame) to a file as tab-separated values (.tsv). The output filename can be auto-generated from the variable's name or manually specified. The file is saved in the specified output directory or the current working directory. The path and variable name can be passed separately and will be concatenated to form the filename.

• 17 write.simple.vec()

Write Simple Vector. Writes a vector-like R object to a file as newline-separated values (.vec). The output filename can be auto-generated from the variable's name or manually specified. The file is saved in the specified output directory or the current working directory. The path and variable name can be passed separately and will be concatenated to form the filename.

• 18 write.simple.tsv()

write.simple.tsv. Write out a matrix-like R object with row and column names to a file as tab-separated values (.tsv). The output filename will be either the variable's name or the one you provide. The output file will be located in the directory specified at the beginning of the script or in your current working directory. You can pass the path and variable separately (in order); they will be concatenated to the filename. If col.names = NA and row.names = TRUE, a blank column name is added, which is the convention used for CSV files to be read by spreadsheets. It can also write CSV files if you set the separator to ',' or ';'.

• 19 write.simple.append()

Write Simple Append. Appends a data frame without row names to an existing .tsv file with the same number of columns. The output filename is auto-generated from the variable's name or manually specified. The file is saved in the specified output directory or the current working directory. The path and variable name can be passed separately and will be concatenated to form the filename.

• 20 assignRownames()

Write Simple XLSX. Write out a list of matrices or data frames with row and column names to an Excel (.xlsx) file. The output filename is generated based on the provided parameters and stored in the specified output directory or the current working directory. The function offers various styling and formatting options for the Excel file.

• 21 collapse_row()

as.simple.md.table. Convert a data.frame / matrix-like object to minimal GitHub-flavored Markdown table lines (header, separator, body). Pure formatter; does not write to disk.

• 22 write.simple.md.table()

write.simple.md.table. Write an R data.frame / matrix-like object to disk as a minimal GitHub-flavored Markdown table (.md).