[R] Calling FING.EXE under RGui.EXE for windows.

[Gabor Grothendieck]

That doesn't explain why this returns character(o) even though we have
launched a console for it:

system("cmd /c C:\\windows\\system32\\find /?", intern = TRUE)

On Sat, Jan 9, 2010 at 5:24 PM, Duncan Murdoch <murdoch at stats.uwo.ca> wrote:
> On 07/01/2010 1:25 PM, Uwe Ligges wrote:
>>
>> Argh. I see it as well. Will dig a lit tomorrow.
>
> I don't know exactly what's going on, but it looks as though it is something
> specific to the find.exe utility, e.g. maybe it is assuming that it's being
> run inside a console and reading CONIN$ or writing to CONOUT$ without
> checking whether they can be opened.  When you run it from Rterm, Rterm is
> in a console, which appears to be good enough.
>
> So it may be anyone who wants to use it will have to contact Microsoft to
> find out how...
>
> Duncan Murdoch
>
>>
>> Uwe
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 07.01.2010 12:25, Gabor Grothendieck wrote:
>>>
>>> I get a problem with shell too:
>>>
>>> Under Rgui:
>>>
>>>> R.version.string
>>>
>>> [1] "R version 2.10.1 Patched (2010-01-01 r50884)"
>>>
>>>> system("C:\\windows\\system32\\find /?", intern = TRUE)
>>>
>>> character(0)
>>>
>>>> system("cmd /c C:\\windows\\system32\\find /?", intern = TRUE)
>>>
>>> character(0)
>>>
>>>> shell("C:\\windows\\system32\\find /?")
>>>
>>> Warning message:
>>> In shell("C:\\windows\\system32\\find /?") :
>>>  'C:\windows\system32\find /?' execution failed with error code 1
>>>
>>> They all work, i.e. they give the required help message, under Rterm
>>> and when I issue this from the Windows console it works:
>>> C:\windows\system32\find /?
>>>
>>>
>>> 2010/1/7 Uwe Ligges<ligges at statistik.tu-dortmund.de>:
>>>>
>>>> On 07.01.2010 02:04, Gabor Grothendieck wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> If you have C:\Rtools\bin on your PATH note that it contains a
>>>>> UNIX-like find utility that conflicts with the find utility in
>>>>> Windows.  If that is the problem then remove that from your PATH and
>>>>> then run the batch file.
>>>>>
>>>>> The batchfiles distribution at http://batchfiles.googlecode.com  has
>>>>> utilities (Rgui.bat, R.bat, Rtools.bat, etc.) that will automatically
>>>>> add C:\Rtools\bin to your path temporarily or only while R is running
>>>>> so that you can leave it off your PATH.
>>>>
>>>> I guess it's the use of system() rather than shell() that causes the
>>>> problem. Under Windows, you have to use shell in order to start a
>>>> command
>>>> interpreter.
>>>>
>>>> Uwe Ligges
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> On Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 6:51 PM, John Schexnayder<jschex at us.ibm.com>
>>>>>  wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> This is sort of a strange bug.  Not show stopping, but annoying.  I
>>>>>> was
>>>>>> wondering if anyone else has noticed this and reported it before I
>>>>>> submit
>>>>>> a bug report.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I noticed while running the RGui and attempting to debug one of my
>>>>>> scripts
>>>>>> that I encountered a Windows error informing me that "Find String
>>>>>> [grep]
>>>>>> Utility has encountered a problem and needs to close."  It is being
>>>>>> generated by a call to a DOS batch file which contains a call to
>>>>>> Find.exe.
>>>>>>  It can be reproduced by simply typing  "System("find")" in RGui.
>>>>>>  What I
>>>>>> found strange is that I have been running this script daily without
>>>>>> this
>>>>>> problem for months.  I now realize I never ran that portion of the
>>>>>> script
>>>>>> while in RGui.exe.  It has always run in batch mode which is done by
>>>>>> Rterm.exe.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I have tried this on three separate machines now all running Windows
>>>>>> XP
>>>>>> SP3, with versions of R 2.8.1 and R 2.10.1  If executing
>>>>>> "System("find")
>>>>>> under RGui, an error window for the Find String Utility is generated
>>>>>> and
>>>>>> the command is not exectuted.  If the same command is issued in Rterm
>>>>>> the
>>>>>> expected "FIND: Parameter format not correct" message is properly
>>>>>> returned.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It doesn't seem an important bug, but it could be the canary in the
>>>>>> mine
>>>>>> for a larger problem somewhere down the road.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Re,
>>>>>> John Schexnayder
>>>>>>
>>>>>> IBM Tape Manufacturing - Information Technology
>>>>>> San Jose, CA  95138
>>>>>> JSchex at us.ibm.com
>>>>>>
>>>>>>        [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ______________________________________________
>>>>>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
>>>>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>>>>>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
>>>>>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>>>>>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>>>>>
>>>>> ______________________________________________
>>>>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
>>>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>>>>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
>>>>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>>>>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>
>