[R] Using read.csv() to import data

[Duncan Murdoch]

On 24/04/2016 4:30 PM, Jason Hernandez via R-help wrote:
> I am just beginning to learn R, using _R for Dummies_ by Andrie de Vries and Joris Meys. I am using Windows 7, and RGui (64-bit) version 3.0.2. I have reached the chapter on "Getting Data Into and Out of R." But the code they use for importing data doesn't seem to be working for me.
>
> Their example is:> elements <- read.csv(file.path("f:", "elements.csv"))
> Since I don't have any such file, I am trying to use a file I have. I went to Excel, brought up my file titled JPH_data, and saved it as .csv (comma delineated) on my main hard drive C:
>
> Then I entered:>  mammals <- read.csv(file.path("C:", "JPH_data.csv"))
> I got the following:Error in file(file, "rt") : cannot open the connection
> In addition: Warning message:
> In file(file, "rt") :
>    cannot open file 'C:/JPH_data.csv': No such file or directory
> Aside from the obvious (how can it say "no such file or directory" when I just saved one such?), the "cannot open the connection" is also unexpected. What am I doing wrong here?
> Jason Hernandezno current affiliation

By far the easiest ways to enter Windows file paths are using the 
file.choose() and choose.files() functions.  Do something like

filename <- file.choose() # navigate to the file
mammals <- read.csv(filename)

and you should be fine.  The file.choose() function works on all 
platforms; choose.files() works only on Windows (and has more options, 
including allowing multiple files to be chosen).

Duncan Murdoch