The R Project SVN R

% File src/library/base/man/files.Rd
% Part of the R package, http://www.R-project.org
% Copyright 1995-2011 R Core Development Team
% Distributed under GPL 2 or later

\name{files2}
\alias{dir.create}
\alias{Sys.chmod}
\alias{Sys.umask}
\concept{directory}
\concept{mkdir}
\title{Manipulation of Directories and File Permissions}
\usage{
dir.create(path, showWarnings = TRUE, recursive = FALSE, mode = "0777")
Sys.chmod(paths, mode = "0777")
Sys.umask(mode = "0000")
}
\arguments{
  \item{path}{a character vector containing a single path name.}
  \item{paths}{character vectors containing file or directory paths.}
  \item{showWarnings}{logical; should the warnings on failure be shown?}
  \item{recursive}{logical. Should elements of the path other than the
    last be created?  If true, like Unix's \command{mkdir -p}.}
  \item{mode}{the file mode to be used on Unix-alikes: it will be
    coerced by \code{\link{as.octmode}}.  For \code{Sys.chmod} it is
    recycled along \code{paths}.}
}
\description{
  These functions provide a low-level interface to the computer's
  file system.
}
\details{
  \code{dir.create} creates the last element of the path, unless
  \code{recursive = TRUE}.  Trailing path separators are discarded.
#ifdef windows
  On Windows drives are allowed in the path specification and unless
  the path is rooted, it will be interpreted relative to the current
  directory on that drive.  \code{mode} is ignored on Windows.
#endif
#ifdef unix
  The mode will be modified by the \code{umask} setting in the same way
  as for the system function \code{mkdir}.  What modes can be set is
  OS-dependent, and it is unsafe to assume that more than three octal
  digits will be used.  For more details see your OS's documentation on the
  system call \code{mkdir}, e.g. \command{man 2 mkdir} (and not that on
  the command-line utility of that name). 
#endif

  \code{Sys.chmod} sets the file permissions of one or more files.
#ifdef unix
  It may not be supported on a system (when a warning is issued).
  See the comments for \code{dir.create} for how modes are interpreted.
  Changing mode on a symbolic link is unlikely to work (nor be
  necessary).  For more details see your OS's documentation on the
  system call \code{chmod}, e.g. \command{man 2 chmod} (and not that on
  the command-line utility of that name).  Note that it is usual for the
  mode set \bold{not} to be modified by the current \code{umask}.
#endif
#ifdef windows
  The interpretation of \code{mode} in the Windows system function is
  non-POSIX and only supports setting the read-only attribute of the
  file.  So \R interprets \code{mode} to mean set read-only if and only
  if \code{(mode & 0200) == 0} (interpreted in octal).  Windows has a much
  more extensive system of file permissions on some file systems
  (e.g. versions of NTFS) which are unrelated to this system call.
#endif

  \code{Sys.umask} sets the \code{umask}.
#ifdef unix
  It may not be supported (when a warning is issued and \code{"0000"}
  is returned).  For more details see your OS's documentation on the
  system call \code{umask}, e.g. \command{man 2 umask}.
#endif
#ifdef windows
  All files on Windows are regarded as readable, and files being
  executable is not a Windows concept.  So \code{umask} only controls
  whether a file is writable: a setting of \code{"200"} makes files (but
  not directories) created subsequently read-only.
#endif  
}
\value{
  \code{dir.create} and \code{Sys.chmod} return invisibly a logical vector
  indicating if the operation succeeded for each of the files attempted.
  Using a missing value for a path name will always be regarded as a
  failure.  \code{dir.create} indicates failure if the directory already
  exists.  If \code{showWarnings = TRUE}, \code{dir.create} will give a
  warning for an unexpected failure (e.g. not for a missing value nor
  for an already existing component for \code{recursive = TRUE}).

  \code{Sys.umask} returns the previous value of the \code{umask},
  invisibly, as a length-one object of class \code{"\link{octmode}"}.
}
#ifdef windows
\note{
  There is no guarantee that these functions will handle Windows
  relative paths of the form \file{d:path}: try \file{d:./path}
  instead.  In particular, \file{d:} is not recognized as a directory.
}
#endif

\author{
  Ross Ihaka, Brian Ripley
}
\seealso{
  \code{\link{file.info}}, \code{\link{file.exists}}, \code{\link{file.path}},
  \code{\link{list.files}}, \code{\link{unlink}},
  \code{\link{basename}}, \code{\link{path.expand}}.

}
\keyword{file}