How to use R code to generate an R script filled with specific text

Question

I know that file.create() can generate an empty file, but my request is to generate an R script filled with specific text, such as

#' This is specific text 

#' So is this

foo <- function(x){
  bar(x)
}

How can I save this text in a way that it populates a file I generate via file.create() or through some other function?

Works the same as the linked question. Just exchange `.txt` for `.R`. — Roman, Apr 28 '19 at 23:05

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 28 '19 at 23:10

There is nothing special about R script files. They are simply text files and you can use writeLines to write them to a file:

script <- "
foo <- function(x){
  bar(x)
}
"
writeLines(script, "script.R")

Here is a simple case to test:

script <- "
print('hello world!')
"
writeLines(script, "script.R")
source("script.R")
#> [1] "hello world!"

1 Answers1