[R] Opening connection to FTP site

[michael watson (IAH-C)]

Hi

Is it possible to open a connection to an FTP site such that I can read
the directory listing?  Eg:

URL <- url("ftp://ftp.ensembl.org", open="r")
Error in url("ftp://ftp.ensembl.org", open="r") :
	unable to open connection

URL <- url("ftp://ftp.ensembl.org")
open(URL)
Error in open.connection(URL) : unable to open connection

I think perhaps it is because there isn't actually a file there to
connect to, eg this works fine:

URL <- url("ftp://ftp.ensembl.org/pub/README", open="r")

Thanks in advance

Mick