[R] help(package)->sink()

[Spencer Graves]

Hi, Gabor: 

      1.  Thanks.  I failed to put "mypager.bat" in "/".  After I moved 
it, I get the following: 

 > readLines("/mypager.bat")
[1] "type %1 > /mclust.txt"
 > old <- options()
 > options(pager = "/mypager.bat")
 > help(package = "mclust")
 > options(old) # reset options back if finished
 > head(readLines("/myfile.txt")) 
Error in file(con, "r") : unable to open connection
In addition: Warning message:
cannot open file `/myfile.txt'

      While R couldn't find the file, it was there, and contained all 
the necessary information. 

      4.  Thanks for the tip on print.packageInfo:  It worked.  [On 
other occasions, I've done things like this routinely.  I got 
sidetracked with the S4 search and frustrated with my failure to get 
much out of that, with the result that I failed to see the obvious.]

      Vielen Dank noch einmal
      spencer graves

Gabor Grothendieck wrote:

>Spencer Graves <spencer.graves <at> pdf.com> writes:
>
>:       1.  I failed to make method 1 work, though I've done that kind of 
>: thing in the past, and I believe I could make it work if I had to. 
>: 
>
>I am using R 1.9.1 patched on Windows XP and at least there it seems
>to work.  I did notice that I put a forward slash in the type statement
>whereas I meant a backward slash although the forward slash worked anyways,
>at least on my system.  Here is the output of an R session:
>
>R> readLines("/mypager.bat")  # check content of mypager.bat file
>[1] "type %1 > /myfile.txt"
>R> old <- options()
>R> options(pager = "/mypager.bat")
>R> help(package = "mclust")
>R> options(old) # reset options back if finished
>R> head(readLines("/myfile.txt"))  # check 1st few lines of myfile.txt
>[1] ""                                  "               Information on 
>Package 'mclust'"
>[3] ""                                  "Description:"                     
>[5] ""                                  "Package: mclust"                  
>R> R.version.string
>[1] "R version 1.9.1, 2004-07-13"
>
>:       4.  A request for "packageInfo.print" returned "object ... not 
>: found".  A request for class(mclustInfo) confirmed that it was a 
>: packageInfo object, so I tried getMethod("print",  "packageInfo");   I 
>: got, 'No generic function defined for "print"'.  Then I tried, 
>: getMethod("show", "packageInfo");  I got, 'No method defined for 
>: function "show" and signature object = "packageInfo"'. 
>
>Sorry about that.  I should have written print.packageInfo  since
>the syntax of these things is genericmethod.class and print is the 
>generic method and packageInfo is the class.
>
> 
>: Gabor Grothendieck wrote:
>: 
>: >Spencer Graves <spencer.graves <at> pdf.com> writes:
>: >
>: >: 
>: >: I wanted to direct packageInfo to a file, so I could add comments, 
>: >: e.g., in MS Word.  The following command stored the desired information 
>: >: in an object: 
>: >: 
>: >:       mclustInfo <- help(package="mclust")
>: >: 
>: >:       Then "mclustInfo" displays it on my screen.  To direct it to a 
>: >: file, I tried the following: 
>: >: 
>: >:       sink("mclust.txt")
>: >:       mclustInfo
>: >:       sink()
>: >: 
>: >:       This sequence created an empty file "mclust.txt", while displaying 
>: >: mclustInfo on my screen.  After a few more failed attempts, I gave up 
>: >: trying to be clever and copied the text from the screen into Word. 
>: >
>: >In addition to your copy and paste solution:
>: >
>: >1. You could intercept the file.show output by redefining the pager:
>: >
>: >   a. create a one line file called mypager.bat in \ with this line:
>: >
>: >      type %1 > /mclust.txt
>: >
>: >   (with appropriate modifications if you are using UNIX).
>: >
>: >   b. In R issue these commands:
>: >
>: >      old <- options()
>: >      options(pager = "/mypager.bat")
>: >      help(package = "mclust")
>: >      options(old) # reset options back if finished
>: >
>: >2. Don't use R but go right to the DESCRIPTION and INDEX
>: >   files.  getwd("library/mclust") should show you where
>: >   to find them.
>: >
>: >3. If you don't care about the formatting:
>: >
>: >      sink("/mclust.txt")
>: >      writeLines(unlist(help(package="mclust")$info))
>: >      sink()
>: >
>: >4. You could modify packageInfo.print adding a file= argument.
>: >
>: >______________________________________________
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>: >https://www.stat.math.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
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>guide.html
>: >  
>: >
>: 
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>: 
>:
>
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