The R Project SVN R

\name{textConnection}
\alias{textConnection}
\title{Text Connections}
\description{
  Input and output text connections.
}
\usage{
textConnection(object, open = "r", local = FALSE)
}
\arguments{
  \item{object}{character.  A description of the connection. 
    For an input this is an \R character vector object, and for an output
    connection the name for the \R character vector to receive the
    output.
  }
  \item{open}{character.  Either \code{"r"} (or equivalently \code{""})
    for an input connection or \code{"w"} or \code{"a"} for an output
    connection.}
  \item{local}{logical.  Used only for output connections.  If \code{TRUE},
    output is assigned to a variable in the calling environment.  Otherwise
    the global environment is used.}
}
\details{
  An input text connection is opened and the character vector is copied
  at time the connection object is created, and \code{close}
  destroys the copy.

  An output text connection is opened and creates an \R character vector
  of the given name in the user's workspace or in the calling environment,
  depending on the value of the \code{local} argument.  This object will at all
  times hold the completed lines of output to the connection, and
  \code{\link{isIncomplete}} will indicate if there is an incomplete
  final line.  Closing the connection will output the final line,
  complete or not.  (A line is complete once it has been terminated by
  end-of-line, represented by \code{"\\n"} in \R.)

  Opening a text connection with \code{mode = "a"} will attempt to
  append to an existing character vector with the given name in the
  user's workspace or the calling environment.  If none is found (even
  if an object exists of the right name but the wrong type) a new
  character vector wil be created, with a warning.

  You cannot \code{seek} on a text connection, and \code{seek} will
  always return zero as the position.
}

\value{
  A connection object of class \code{"textConnection"} which inherits
  from class \code{"connection"}.
}

\note{
  As output text connections keep the character vector up to date
  line-by-line, they are relatively expensive to use, and it is often
  better to use an anonymous \code{\link{file}()} connection to collect
  output.

  On platforms where \code{vsnprintf} does not return the needed length
  of output (e.g., Windows) there is a 100,000 character limit on the
  length of line for output connections: longer lines will be truncated
  with a warning.
}
 
\seealso{
  \code{\link{connections}}, \code{\link{showConnections}},
  \code{\link{pushBack}}, \code{\link[utils]{capture.output}}.
}

\examples{
zz <- textConnection(LETTERS)
readLines(zz, 2)
scan(zz, "", 4)
pushBack(c("aa", "bb"), zz)
scan(zz, "", 4)
close(zz)

zz <- textConnection("foo", "w")
writeLines(c("testit1", "testit2"), zz)
cat("testit3 ", file=zz)
isIncomplete(zz)
cat("testit4\n", file=zz)
isIncomplete(zz)
close(zz)
foo

\dontrun{# capture R output: use part of example from help(lm)
zz <- textConnection("foo", "w")
ctl <- c(4.17, 5.58, 5.18, 6.11, 4.5, 4.61, 5.17, 4.53, 5.33, 5.14)
trt <- c(4.81, 4.17, 4.41, 3.59, 5.87, 3.83, 6.03, 4.89, 4.32, 4.69)
group <- gl(2, 10, 20, labels = c("Ctl", "Trt"))
weight <- c(ctl, trt)
sink(zz)
anova(lm.D9 <- lm(weight ~ group))
cat("\nSummary of Residuals:\n\n")
summary(resid(lm.D9))
sink()
close(zz)
cat(foo, sep = "\n")
}
}
\keyword{file}
\keyword{connection}