local_timeout: Set a time limit for the rest of a function

In tidymedia: Media File Preprocessing and Metadata for the 'tidyverse'

Set a time limit for the rest of a function

Description

local_timeout() sets a time limit for the rest of the function that calls it. The limit applies to each FFmpeg, FFprobe or MediaInfo program that the function starts after this call. When the function returns, or stops with an error, the caller's own limit is back, except in the cases in Details.

Use with_timeout() to set a limit on one expression. Use local_timeout() to set a limit on the rest of a function, or on several calls that are hard to wrap in one expression.

Usage

local_timeout(seconds, .local_envir = parent.frame())

Arguments

seconds

A whole number of seconds. 0 means no limit, so local_timeout(0) removes a session limit for the rest of the function. A fraction, a negative number, a string or NULL gives an error, and the limit does not change.

.local_envir

The environment that holds the limit. The default is the function that calls local_timeout(). Change it only when you write a helper that sets a limit for its own caller. Inside a function, the environment must belong to a function that is still running. Suppose it belongs to a function that has returned, or it is an environment such as new.env(). Then the limit stays set with no error. withr::local_options() works the same way. At the top level of a script or the console, withr::defer() decides when the limit is undone.

Details

The limit applies to each program, not to the whole function. In a 100-row batch after local_timeout(600), each program that a row starts gets 600 seconds, plus the delay that with_timeout() describes. The workers of a parallel = TRUE run use the same limit.

R can wait up to 40 seconds past the limit, and with_timeout() explains why. It also explains what happens when a limit is reached.

Two calls in one function work like any two ⁠local_*()⁠ calls. The second limit applies until the function ends. Then both are undone, and the caller's limit is back.

In three cases, the caller's limit is not back when the function ends, and there is no error.

• The function calls on.exit() without add = TRUE. That call removes the undo step. Write on.exit(..., add = TRUE) instead.

• The .local_envir belongs to a function that has returned, or it is an environment such as new.env().

• local_timeout() is called directly inside the expression of with_timeout(). There, local_timeout() belongs to the function around it. So when that function ends, the limit that with_timeout() set is in force. Put the inner limit in a function of its own, or use only one of the two.

The first two cases also apply to withr::local_options(), because R's exit handlers work this way. They do not apply to withr::with_options(), which puts the option back itself.

Value

The caller's earlier setting, invisibly. It is a list with one element, the same form that withr::local_options() returns.

See Also

with_timeout() to set a limit for one expression. tidymedia-package describes the session options.

Examples

bounded <- function() {
  local_timeout(30)
  getOption("tidymedia.timeout")
}

# In force for the rest of that function...
bounded()

# ...and gone once it has returned.
getOption("tidymedia.timeout", default = "unset")

# Bound every program a whole function starts, at five minutes. Defining the
# function starts nothing; the limit applies when you call it.
convert_all <- function(files) {
  local_timeout(300)
  for (f in files) extract_audio(f, sub("[.][^.]*$", ".wav", f))
}

tidymedia documentation built on Oct. 11, 2026, 5:08 p.m.