Overwrite a directory

Usage

overwriteDir(dir, action = c("ask", "overwrite", "append", "no"))

Arguments

dir: Chacater, path to a directory.
action: Ask the user to input the option (ask), or one of the following options: overwrite, append, and no. See below for other options.

Value

If action is set to overwrite, the directory will be deleted recursively if it exists, a new directory with the same name will be created, and the function returns TRUE. If append is set, the function creates the directory if necessary and returns TRUE. If no is set, the function does nothing and returns.

If action is set to ask, user will be prompted for actions.

If overwrite is set, the directory will be removed and written anew.

If append is set, in contrast to overwrite, the directory and the files in it are not removed if they exists. In this case, files with the same name will be overwritten. Otherwise, new directories or files will be simply created. On the other hand, if the directory does not exist, it will be created.

If no is set, no action will be taken. The funciton returns FALSE.

Examples

## Helper to create a test directory with files
createTestDir <- function() {
  testdir <- file.path(tempdir(), "overwriteDir_test")
  dir.create(testdir, showWarnings = FALSE)
  writeLines("First file", file.path(testdir, "file1.txt"))
  writeLines("Second file", file.path(testdir, "file2.txt"))
  return(testdir)
}
addFileToDir <- function(testdir) {
  writeLines("New file", tempfile(tmpdir=testdir))
}

## overwrite: delete the directory and create it anew
testdir <- createTestDir()
length(dir(testdir)) ## two files should be there
#> [1] 2
overwriteDir(testdir, action="overwrite")
#> [1] TRUE
addFileToDir(testdir)
length(dir(testdir)) ## now there should be only one file
#> [1] 1

## append: keep existing files, add new ones
overwriteDir(testdir, action="append")
#> [1] TRUE
addFileToDir(testdir)
length(dir(testdir)) ## now two files
#> [1] 2

## no: no action, returns FALSE
noRes <- overwriteDir(testdir, action="no")
noRes
#> [1] FALSE

## cleanup
unlink(testdir, recursive = TRUE)

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
  ## ask: prompts user for action (interactive only)
  testdir <- createTestDir()
  overwriteDir(testdir, action="ask")
} # }