RADical RStudio add-ins!
This packages replaces the old
fwdSlash package.
The RADins package provides a number of add-ins that extend the
capabilities of RStudio. The motivation for this package is an add-in
that allows you to paste file paths into RStudio from a Windows machine.
This will usually mean replacing backslashes (\) with forward slashes
(/)—hence it’s former name,
fwdSlash—.
The package also includes others add-ins that perform other special copy/pastes, as well as some add-ins for working with hard-coded vectors.
For more see help("file_path_add-ins"), help("input_output_addins")
and help("vector_code_add-ins"). Note that the paste add-ins will not
change the clipboard itself, they will simply insert text to the current
location leaving the clipboard untouched.
You can install the RADins package from
GitHub with:
# install.packages("devtools") #In case you have not installed it.
devtools::install_github("t-gummer/RADins")Once you have done this, the add-ins will be available in RStudio for use in all future R sessions. Use the set “default keyboard shortcuts” to setup the default shortcuts for each add-in.
The RADins package contains the following add-ins:
| Add-in Name | Underlying R Function | Recommended Shortcut | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Set default keyboard shortcuts | set_shortcuts_default() |
none | Click on this add-in in RStudio to set the shortcuts for the other add-ins below. |
| Special copy (file path) | copy_file_path() |
Ctrl+Alt+C |
Copy a file path to the clipboard so that it will work as a Windows file path. |
| Special paste (file path) | paste_file_path() |
Ctrl+Shift+V |
Paste a file path in the clipboard so that it will work as an R file path (this does not change the clipboard). |
| Special paste (vector code) | paste_vector_code() |
Ctrl+H |
Pastes the current text in the clipboard as R code for a hard-coded vector using the c() function (this does not change the clipboard). |
| Hard code vector | hard_code_vector_code() |
Ctrl+Alt+H |
Evaluate the current selected code in RStudio and replace it with a hard-coded vector. |
| Special copy (R evaluation) | copy_r_eval() |
Ctrl+G |
Evaluate currently selected code in RStudio and copy the output to the clipboard (one line per element of vectors). This can be thought of as reversing the “Special paste (vector code)” add-in. |
| View object | view_obj() |
Shift+Alt+V |
View currently selected object (or code that will create an object) in the Viewer pane. This is a shortcut version of running the function View() or clicking on the object in the Environment pane. |
| Special copy (console output) | copy_console_output() |
Ctrl+Alt+2 |
Copy current console output to the clipboard. |
| Special paste (console output) | paste_console_output() |
Ctrl+Alt+1 |
Paste current console output to the current cursor position |
| Special copy (console input) | copy_last_call() |
Shift+Alt+2 |
Copy current R evaluation in the console to the clipboard. |
| Special paste (console input) | paste_last_call() |
Shift+Alt+1 |
Paste current R evaluation in the console to the current cursor position. |
| Bundle code | bundle_code() |
Ctrl+B |
Bundle the current selected text into a file. |
| Comment section | fill_equals() |
Ctrl+Shift+X |
Fill the rest of a line with equals signs (up to 80 characters). |
The decisions for the “recommended shortcuts” are based on both availability (they do not overwrite any of the existing default ones) and some attempt at logical conventions.
It is recommended that you set the RADins Special paste (file path)
add-in as a keyboard shortcut to allow for easy access. Ctrl+Shift+V
is a good option for it’s similarity to Ctrl+V.
This workflow is much improved compared to the usual (slow) alternative, which is of doing a find and replace (or worse, manually replacing all the backslashes with forward slashes).
RADins was built for use on a Windows operating system.
It also has the potential to work on Mac or Linux by virtue of the
clipr package. It is however less
useful on these operating systems than Windows due to the fact that
their file paths are generally do not require any modification to be
recognised in R.
There are a number of other packages that provide useful tools for accessing the clipboard. Some examples are listed below.
As mentioned above, the motivation for this package was to solve the problem of pasting windows file paths (which happen to include backslashes) into R. The package has evolved beyond that to include many more add-ins but this was the original intention. Below are some other ways of minimising this issue.
The need to copy file paths into R can be minimised or entirely removed by making use of the following default infrastructure that already exists in R and RStudio:
- Using relative file paths (instead of absolute file path) prevents the need to copy full file paths. In most situations, you should be working with files in your current working directory anyway. Some other languages such as SAS do not support relative file paths, so some users may not be aware that they exist.
- RStudio has tab auto-completion for the relative file paths of files
in the current working directory if you hit tab after typing
".
Additionally,
R 4.0.0
has rendered the initial idea behind this package somewhat redundant
(although the package as a whole, still remains useful) by including new
syntax for so-called raw character constants (r"..."). This addition
now makes copying Windows file paths directly into R feasible as these
raw character constants will not require you to escape backslashes with
another backslash.