How to use PowerShell to schedule sourcing an R script? - r

My goal is to use PowerShell to schedule the sourcing of an R script.
My current work flow is that I open RStudio, click the "Source" button in the upper right corner. Then I wait until it's finished, and close RStudio. I change nothing in the R script.
In PowerShell I've been using its Register-ScheduledJob cmdlet to kick off C# programs on a daily schedule. And here's the problem, I can't find an example of effectively using PowerShell to source an R script.
I believe the PowerShell script should probably use the Invoke-Expression cmdlet. But I'm not 100% sure.
To no avail I've tried this:
Start-Process "C:\Program Files\R\R-3.2.4revised\bin\x64\Rterm.exe" -RedirectStandardInput "C:\MyScript.R"
Also, I'd like to avoid the solution that uses CMD BATCH as that's defeating the purpose of using PowerShell.

If just sourcing the R script is what you're looking for then one way to do is something like this
& "C:\Program Files\R\R-3.1.1\bin\Rscript.exe" "C:/Program Files/R/R-3.1.1/tests/demos.R"
where "C:\Program Files\R\R-3.1.1\bin\Rscript.exe" is path Rscript in your local R installation and "C:/Program Files/R/R-3.1.1/tests/demos.R" is path to script you'd normally source() directly in RStudio.
One thing to keep in mind is depending on location of files your R script needs you might need to adjust your script with appropriate setwd()

Related

Running several R scripts at once using .bat file with CMD BATCH?

I wanted to use a Windows .bat file to run several R scripts and schedule it using windows scheduler.
However, when I test using windows scheduler, everything executes but the files that the R scripts should create are never created. Instead, when I double-click on the .bat file itself it works fine. My goal is for several scripts to just run overnight without me going in and running each one of them manually one-by-one.
If I were to add a second line to the .bat file that would make it run a second script, would this execute only after the first is complete? If not, would I be able to delay the second until the first finishes somehow?? For instance, my .bat file looks like this:
"C:\Program Files\R\R-3.4.2\bin\x64\R.exe" CMD BATCH C:\Users\gma\Desktop\R_Task\script1.R
"C:\Program Files\R\R-3.4.2\bin\x64\R.exe" CMD BATCH C:\Users\gma\Desktop\R_Task\script2.R
I used the answer provided by #Gautam (R taskscheduleR not executing script) to get this far

Error that says Rscript is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file [duplicate]

shell_exec("Rscript C:\R\R-3.2.2\bin\code.R ");
This is the call to script.On calling the above script, the error occurs.
I am trying to call my R script from the above path but no output is being shown. While checking the error logs of PHP, it says 'Rscript' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.' The script is working fine on the Rstudio but not running on the command line.
Add the Rscript path to your environment variables in Windows:
Go to Control Panel\System and Security\System and click Advanced System Settings, then environment variables, click on path in the lower box, edit, add "C:\R\R-3.2.2\bin"
Restart everything. Should be good to go. Then you should be able to do
exec('Rscript PATH/TO/my_code.R')
instead of typing the full path to Rscript. Won't need the path to your my_code.R script if your php file is in the same directory.
You need to set the proper path where your RScript.exe program is located.
exec ("\"C:\\R\\R-3.2.2\\bin\\Rscript.exe\"
C:\\My_work\\R_scripts\\my_code.R my_args";
#my_args only needed if you script take `args`as input to run
other way is you declare header in your r script (my_code.r)
#!/usr/bin/Rscript
and call it from command line
./my_code.r
If you are running it in Git Bash terminal, you could follow a revised version of the idea suggested by #user5249203: in the first line of your file my_code.R, type the following
#!/c/R/R-3.2.2/bin/Rscript.exe
I assumed that your path to Rscript.exe is the one listed above C:\R\R-3.2.2\bin. For anyone having a different path to Rscript.exe in Windows, just modify the path-to-Rscript accordingly. After this modification of your R code, you could run it in the Git Bash terminal using path-to-the-code/mycode.R. I have tested it on my pc.
I faced the same problem while using r the first time in VS Code, just after installing the language package (CRAN).
I restart the application and everything worked perfectly. I think restarting would work for you as well.

R script to Task Scheduler

I have an R script that gets data from databases on another server and brings it into my database. I have it saved as "dataimport.R"
I followed a few answers from here and from other websites and created a batch file like this:
"C:\Program Files\R\R-3.4.0\bin\R.exe" CMD BATCH --vanilla --slave "C:\dataimport.R"
This is not working. The cmd window opens up but the tables are not recreated and I dont get any error. I wanted to run the Task Scheduler to automate the process. Any ideas on how to fix this?
I kept at it and interestingly the answer to this was this:
"C:\Program Files\R\R-3.4.0\bin\R.exe" "C:\dataimport.R"
I dont know the reason for this but as long as it works.
I've had loads of problems with this, but finally managed to get it to work. To be more comprehensive, here are some of the things I've tried (in case one of these work for other persons):
#echo off, R CMD BATCH C:\myfolder\script.R
R CMD BATCH C:\myfolder\script.R
Using the package taskschedulerR (somehow didn't work overnight)
Used the answer provided above ("C:\Program Files\R\R-3.4.0\bin\R.exe" "C:\dataimport.R")
and all kinds of variations and combinations off these. (can't remember them all exactly)
What finally worked was:
Make an R script and save it (C:\myfolder\Test.R for example)
Through notepad, fill in: "C:\Program Files\R\R-3.5.2\bin\x64\R.exe" CMD BATCH "C:\myfolder\Test.R" (also tried Rscript.exe, didn't work for me).
in Windows Task Scheduler (v1.0) do 'Create task'
fill in time triggers.
in Actions, make an action with Start a program and in the Program/Script line provide the location where your bat script is. C:\myfolder\Test.bat
in the Start in (optional) line: enter C:\myfolder\
Note: both your .bat file and .R script are in the "C:\myfolder" folder.

batch process for R gui

I have created a batch file to launch R scripts in Rterm.exe. This works well for regular weekly tasks. The < PBWeeklyMeetingScriptV3.R > is the R script run by Rterm.
set R_TERM="C:\Program Files\R\R-2.14.0\bin\x64\Rterm.exe"
%R_TERM% --slave --no-restore --no-save --args 20120401 20110403 01-apr-12 03-apr-11 < PBWeeklyMeetingScriptV3.R > PBWeeklyMeetingScriptV3.batch 2> error.txt
I've tried to modify this to launch the R GUI instead of the background process as I'd like to inspect and potentially manipulate and inspect the data.
If I change my batch file to:
set R_TERM="C:\Program Files\R\R-2.14.0\bin\x64\Rgui.exe"
the batch file will launch the R GUI but doesn't start the script. Is there a way to launch the script too?
Alternatively is there a way to save/load the work space image to access the variables that are created in the script?
You can save and load workspaces by using save.image() and load(). I do this all the time when scripting to pass data sets between two separate script files, tied together using Python or bash. At the end of each R script, just add:
save.image("Your_image_name.RData")
The image will be the workspace that existed whenever the command was run (so, if it's the last command in the file, it's the workspace right before the exist of the file). We also use this at my job to create "snapshots" of input and output data, so we can reproduce the research later. (We use a simple naming convention to get the time of run, and then label the files with that).
Not sure about launching and then running the GUI with specific scripts in it; I don't think that's a feature you'll find in R, simply because the whole point of running a batch file is usually to avoid the GUI. But hopefully, you can just save the image to disk, and then look at it or pass it to other programs as needed. Hope that helps!

How to run a R language(.r) file using Batch file?

I want to run a R script file (.r) using batch file.
If R.exe is in your PATH, then your windows batch file (.bat) would simply consist of one line:
R CMD BATCH your_r_script.R
otherwise, you need to give the path of R.exe, so for example:
"C:\Program Files\R\R-2.13.0\bin\R.exe" CMD BATCH your_r_script.R
you can add certain input arguments to the BATCH command, such as --no-save, --no-restore
so it would be
R CMD BATCH [options] your_r_script.R
more info on options, etc at http://stat.ethz.ch/R-manual/R-devel/library/utils/html/BATCH.html
Note: R uses the command "BATCH" to non-interactively evaluate a script located in a file. Here we are running the command "BATCH" from a windows .BAT file, but that's merely a coincidence.
An answer to another question suggests using Rscript.exe, so your batch file would contain:
"C:\Program Files\R\R-3.0.2\bin\i386\Rscript.exe" your_script.R
pause
It is a good idea to add R to the windows environment path. In a comment in this question #chase gave a link that explains how to set the path on windows 7. Once R is added to the windows path, your batch file should become simply :
Rscript.exe your_script.R
pause
You can also directly call a R command by using the -e flag. For example this batchfile will tell R to set its current working directory to Documents, then it will print the working directory:
Rscript.exe -e setwd('Documents');getwd()
pause
I struggled with the syntax with the answers below, but this worked for me in the .bat file:
C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k ""path to Rscript.exe"
"path to .R script""
Be sure to place both the path to Rscript.exe and the script in "" together and separately as above.
I doubt you will be able to run it using a batch file.
http://www.fileinfo.com/extension/r
Most known programs that use .r files do so for source code files it looks like. You will probably have to compile it using the program it was written for. I guess you could use a command line compiler from a batch file, but I don't know what language or applications you are using.
If you post the script file or give more information about it, we could probably help you better.

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