Method 1: Using the Built-in Functions
R has some built-in functions that can help you download and unzip a file from the internet. The main functions are:
download.file(): This function downloads a file from a given URL to a specified location on your computer.
unzip(): This function extracts the contents of a zip file to a specified location on your computer.
To use these functions, you need to know the URL of the file that you want to download and unzip, and the location where you want to save it on your computer. For example, suppose you want to download and unzip a zip file that contains some data files from this URL: https://github.com/rstudio/cheatsheets/raw/master/data-import.zip. And suppose you want to save it to your working directory in R. Then you can use the following code:
# Download the zip file
download.file(url = "https://github.com/rstudio/cheatsheets/raw/master/data-import.zip",
destfile = "data-import.zip")
# Unzip the zip file
unzip(zipfile = "data-import.zip",
exdir = ".") # "." means the current working directory
After running this code, you should see a folder named "data-import" in your working directory, which contains four PDF files: "base-r.pdf", "data-transformation.pdf", "importing-data.pdf", and "tidyverse.pdf". You can open these files using your preferred PDF viewer.
Method 2: Using the External Packages
R also has some external packages that can help you download and unzip a file from the internet. The main packages are:
downloader: This package provides a wrapper for the download.file() function with some additional features, such as progress bars, resume downloads, and error handling.
zip: This package provides functions for creating, updating, and extracting zip files.
To use these packages, you need to install them first using the install.packages() function. For example:
# Install the downloader package
install.packages("downloader")
# Install the zip package
install.packages("zip")
Then you need to load them using the library() function. For example:
# Load the downloader package
library(downloader)
# Load the zip package
library(zip)
Then you can use the functions from these packages to download and unzip a file from the internet. For example, suppose you want to download and unzip the same zip file as in method 1. Then you can use the following code:
# Download the zip file using the downloader package
download(url = "https://github.com/rstudio/cheatsheets/raw/master/data-import.zip",
destfile = "data-import.zip",
mode = "wb") # "wb" means write binary mode
# Unzip the zip file using the zip package
unzip(zipfile = "data-import.zip",
exdir = ".")
The result should be the same as in method 1.
Conclusion
In this article, we have shown you how to download and unzip a file in R using two methods: the built-in functions and the external packages. Both methods are easy to use and can help you access various files from the internet for your analysis or project. However, depending on your needs and preferences, you may find one method more suitable than the other.
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