file_management: file management
In projects: A Project Infrastructure for Researchers

Description Usage Arguments Details See Also Examples

Tools for Organizing and Managing Project Files

new_project_group(path)

rename_folder(project, new_folder_name, archived = FALSE)

move_project(project, path, make_directories = FALSE, archived = FALSE)

copy_project(
  project_to_copy,
  path,
  new_id = NA,
  new_folder_name = paste0("p", stringr::str_pad(new_id, 4, pad = "0")),
  new_short_title = NA,
  make_directories = FALSE,
  archived = FALSE
)

archive_project(project)

open_project(project, new_session = FALSE, archived = FALSE)

move_projects_folder(
  new_path,
  make_directories = FALSE,
  .Renviron_path = file.path(Sys.getenv("HOME"), ".Renviron")
)

rename_projects_folder(
  new_name,
  .Renviron_path = file.path(Sys.getenv("HOME"), ".Renviron")
)

`path`	A valid path string. For `copy_project()` only, if left blank, the preexisting project's directory is used. All other functions here require a valid path. See the `path` argument in `new_project()` for details on valid paths.
`project`	Project `id` or unambiguous substring of the project name from the `projects()` table
`new_folder_name`	Character string of new name for project folder. Always processed with `fs::path_sanitize()`.
`archived`	Logical indicating whether or not the function should consider archived projects when determining which project the user is referring to in the `project`/`project_to_copy` argument. `FALSE` by default. See Details.
`make_directories`	Logical. If the path represented by the `path` parameter does not exist, should the needed directories be created?
`project_to_copy`	Project `id` or unambiguous substring of the project name corresponding to the project that is to be copied.
`new_id`	Optional integer, ranging from 1 to 9999, used as the newly-created project `id`. Must not already exist in `projects()$id`. If left blank, the lowest available `id` will be automatically used.
`new_short_title`	Optional character string that becomes the `short_title` of the project copy. It also becomes the project copy's folder name under normal circumstances (see Details).
`new_session`	Same as the `newSession` argument in `rstudioapi::openProject()`.
`new_path`	A valid string indicating a path where the projects folder should be moved. The projects folder will have the same name, but it will be moved into this directory.
`.Renviron_path`	The full file path of the .Renviron file where the user would like to store the updated `projects_folder()` path. Default is the home .Renviron file. If the file doesn't exist it will be created. See also `setup_projects()`.
`new_name`	A valid directory name for the projects folder.

Projects can be moved (move_project()), copied (copy_project()), or archived (archive_project()).

The difference between delete_project() and archive_project() is that the latter will just move the project to a directory called archive, located in the same parent directory as the project. This directory gets created if it doesn't yet exist. Most functions that perform actions on projects will exclude archived projects by default in order to make it easier for the user to enter a nonambiguous string that will match an active (i.e., non-archived) project.

Projects can also be organized into groups. By default, all projects are created within the main projects folder. To create a project group, which is essentially a subfolder of the main projects folder, use new_project_group().

open_project() is a wrapper around rstudioapi::openProject(), but the user only needs to know the project's id, title, or short_title instead of the file path of the project's .Rproj file. If there is no .Rproj file in the project's folder, the user has the option to restore a default .Rproj file. If there are multiple .Rproj files, an error is thrown.

move_projects_folder() allows the user to move the entire projects folder created by setup_projects() into a different directory, and rename_projects_folder() changes its name.

new_project() and delete_project() for other functions that write and delete files.

#############################################################################
# SETUP
old_home <- Sys.getenv("HOME")
old_ppath <- Sys.getenv("PROJECTS_FOLDER_PATH")
temp_dir <- tempfile("dir")
dir.create(temp_dir)
Sys.unsetenv("PROJECTS_FOLDER_PATH")
Sys.setenv(HOME = temp_dir)
setup_projects(path = temp_dir)
#############################################################################

# setting up a simple project directory tree
new_project_group("kidney/clinical")
new_project_group("kidney/genomics")
new_project_group("prostate/clinical")
new_project_group("prostate/genomics")

# Wrapped in if (interactive()) because it requires interactive console input
# and fails automated package checking and testing.
if (interactive()){
  new_project(title = "Sample Authorless Project", parent_directory = "kidney")

  # Moving the project folder, then moving it again.
  move_project(project = 1, "kidney/genomics")
  move_project(project = "Sample Authorless Project", "prostate/clinical")

  # Copying the project
  copy_project(project_to_copy = 1, "kidney/clinical")

  # Renaming the folder of the copy of the project
  rename_folder(project = 2, "copy")

  # Archiving the copy of the project
  archive_project(2)

  # Moving and renaming the entire projects folder
  temp_dir2 <- tempfile("dir")
  dir.create(temp_dir2)
  move_projects_folder(temp_dir2)
  projects_folder()
  rename_projects_folder("foobar")
  projects_folder()

  # Opens the project in same session
  open_project("Sample")

  # Opens the project in a new session
  open_project(1, new_session = TRUE)
}
#############################################################################
# CLEANUP
Sys.setenv(HOME = old_home, PROJECTS_FOLDER_PATH = old_ppath)