[Rd] Making R CMD nicer

[Gábor Csárdi]

For the record, this is Linux R-devel:

root using 4bef68c16864:~# R CMD
/opt/R-devel/lib/R/bin/Rcmd: 60: shift: can't shift that many
root using 4bef68c16864:~# R CMD -h
/opt/R-devel/lib/R/bin/Rcmd: 62: exec: -h: not found
root using 4bef68c16864:~# R CMD --help
/opt/R-devel/lib/R/bin/Rcmd: 62: exec: --help: not found

This is R-release on macOS:

❯ R CMD
/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/bin/Rcmd: line 62:
/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/bin/: is a directory
/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/bin/Rcmd: line 62: exec:
/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/bin/: cannot execute:
Undefined error: 0
❯ R CMD -h
/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/bin/Rcmd: line 62: exec: -h:
invalid option
exec: usage: exec [-cl] [-a name] file [redirection ...]
❯ R CMD --help
/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/bin/Rcmd: line 62: exec: --:
invalid option
exec: usage: exec [-cl] [-a name] file [redirection ...]

On Windows you indeed get a useful list of commands and more helpful tips.

Gabor


On Sun, Jun 30, 2019 at 11:36 PM Abby Spurdle <spurdle.a using gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > First time posting in the R mailing lists so hopefully this works well.
> > I noticed when I type `R CMD` I get this unhelpful message:
> > /usr/lib/R/bin/Rcmd: 60: shift: can't shift that many
>
> I wasn't able to reproduce this.
> Maybe it's a Linux thing.
> But then, I suspect you've omitted some of your input.
>
> > I also think it would be nice if `R CMD help` showed the usable commands.
>
> What do you mean...
> All of the following give you the "usable commands":
>
> > R CMD
> > R CMD -h
> > R CMD --help
>
>         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
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