locatexec
Detection and Localization of Executable Files
A set of functions to locate some programs available on the user machine. It can locate 'Node.js', 'npm', 'LibreOffice', 'Microsoft Word', 'Microsoft PowerPoint', 'Microsoft Excel', 'Python', 'pip', 'Mozilla Firefox', 'Google Chrome', 'Air' and 'Pandoc'. The user can test the availability of a program, optionally with a required version, and call it with the functions system2() or system(). This allows the use of a single function to retrieve the path to a program regardless of the operating system and its configuration.
locatexec
The package helps locate external programs such as “python”, “Google Chrome”, “node.js” and “LibreOffice” so that they can be called easily from R.
This makes it easier to call these programs from R across various operating systems.
library(locatexec)
if(exec_available("node")){
message(exec_version("node"))
message(node_exec())
}
#> 26.0.0
#> /opt/homebrew/bin/node
| exec | exec_fun | available | version | path |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| node | node_exec() |
TRUE | 26.0.0 | /opt/homebrew/bin/node |
| chrome | chrome_exec() |
TRUE | 148.0.7778.179 | /Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome |
| python | python_exec() |
TRUE | 3.9.6 | /usr/bin/python3 |
| libreoffice | libreoffice_exec() |
TRUE | 26.2.3.2 | /opt/homebrew/bin/soffice |
| excel | excel_exec() |
TRUE | 16.109.1 | /Applications/Microsoft Excel.app/Contents/MacOS/Microsoft Excel |
| powerpoint | powerpoint_exec() |
TRUE | 16.109.1 | /Applications/Microsoft PowerPoint.app/Contents/MacOS/Microsoft PowerPoint |
| pip | pip_exec() |
TRUE | 21.2.4 | /usr/bin/pip3 |
| firefox | firefox_exec() |
TRUE | 151.0.1 | /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox |
| npm | npm_exec() |
TRUE | 11.12.1 | /opt/homebrew/bin/npm |
| word | word_exec() |
TRUE | 16.109.1 | /Applications/Microsoft Word.app/Contents/MacOS/Microsoft Word |
| air | air_exec() |
TRUE | 0.8.0 | /Users/username/.local/bin/air |
| pandoc | pandoc_exec() |
TRUE | 3.9.0.2 | /opt/homebrew/bin/pandoc |
Motivations
This was motivated by the need for tools similar to
rmarkdown::pandoc_available() and rmarkdown::pandoc_exec() but
allowing to locate external programs other than pandoc.
I needed to call these programs from R without pulling in heavy dependencies.
Installation
You can install the CRAN version with:
install.packages("locatexec")
Related work
-
Package pagedown provides
find_chrome()for finding “Google Chrome”. -
Package findpython provides
find_python_cmd()for finding “python”. -
If you want to go deeper with ‘R’ and ‘node.js’, I recommend package packer.
-
If you want to go deeper with ‘R’ and ‘Python’, I recommend package reticulate.