Write to text file but escape special characters - r

Question

I'm trying to use R to write some perl script to a text file. I just cannot figure out how to escape certain characters?
I've used backslash (single and double), square brackets, "\\Q...\\E", etc. but still can't make it work.
Any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
taskFilename = "example.txt"
cat("
#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use File::Find;
use File::Temp qw(tempfile);
my #imagedir_roots = ("/Users/Ross/Desktop/images");
my $parallel = 8;
my $exiftool_command = 'exiftool -all= -tagsfromfile # -all:all --gps:all --xmp:geotag -unsafe -icc_profile -overwrite_original';
# Create the (temporary) -# files
my #atfiles;
my #atfilenames;
for (my $i = 0; $i < $parallel; ++$i) {
my ($fh, $filename) = tempfile(UNLINK => 1);
push #atfiles, $fh;
push #atfilenames, $filename;
}
# Gather all JPG image files and distribute them over the -# files
my $nr = 0;
find(sub { print { $atfiles[$nr++ % $parallel] } "$File::Find::name\n" if (-f && /\.(?:jpg|jpeg)/i); }, #imagedir_roots);
# Process all images in parallel
printf("Processing %d JPG files...\n", $nr);
for (my $i = 0; $i < $parallel; ++$i) {
close($atfiles[$i]);
my $pid = fork();
if (!$pid) {
# Run exiftool in the background
system qq{$exiftool_command -# \"$atfilenames[$i]\"};
last;
}
}
# Wait for processes to finish
while (wait() != -1) {}
", fill = TRUE, file = taskFilename
)

Answer 1

I also played around with this once. If I remember correctly:
the double quotes you need to escape with \
if you want to write a \ you also need to escape it with \
if you want to write a \" you need to \\"
taskFilename = "example.txt"
cat("
#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use File::Find;
use File::Temp qw(tempfile);
my #imagedir_roots = (\"/Users/Ross/Desktop/images\");
my $parallel = 8;
my $exiftool_command = 'exiftool -all= -tagsfromfile # -all:all --gps:all --xmp:geotag -unsafe -icc_profile -overwrite_original';
# Create the (temporary) -# files
my #atfiles;
my #atfilenames;
for (my $i = 0; $i < $parallel; ++$i) {
my ($fh, $filename) = tempfile(UNLINK => 1);
push #atfiles, $fh;
push #atfilenames, $filename;
}
# Gather all JPG image files and distribute them over the -# files
my $nr = 0;
find(sub { print { $atfiles[$nr++ % $parallel] } \"$File::Find::name\n\" if (-f && /\\.(?:jpg|jpeg)/i); }, #imagedir_roots);
# Process all images in parallel
printf(\"Processing %d JPG files...\n\", $nr);
for (my $i = 0; $i < $parallel; ++$i) {
close($atfiles[$i]);
my $pid = fork();
if (!$pid) {
# Run exiftool in the background
system qq{$exiftool_command -# \\\"$atfilenames[$i]\\\"};
last;
}
}
# Wait for processes to finish
while (wait() != -1) {}
", fill = TRUE, file = taskFilename
)