[R] How to permanently remove [Previously saved workspace re

(Ted Harding) ted.harding at wlandres.net
Sun Nov 14 17:58:51 CET 2010


On 14-Nov-10 16:43:18, Duncan Murdoch wrote:
> On 14/11/2010 10:42 AM, Joshua Wiley wrote:
>> On Sun, Nov 14, 2010 at 3:40 AM, Stephen Liu<satimis at yahoo.com> 
>> wrote:
>>> Hi Joshua,
>>>
>>>> list.files(path = getwd(), all.files = TRUE)
>>>   [3]
>>> ".RData"
>>>   [4]
>>> ".Rhistory"
>>> .Rhistory and .RDate are there.
>>
>> Note that these files start with a "."
>>
>>>
>>> But I can't find .RDate on Windows Explorer.  Only .Rhistory is
>>> there.
>>
>> This is likely a "feature" of Windows Explorer....certain types of
>> files are hidden by default (like those that start with ".").
> 
> That's not true:  it's Unix ls that hides filenames starting with a
> ".". 
>   Windows Explorer does hide some files, but I don't think it is ever 
> based on the name, it's based on the attributes.
> 
> What Windows Explorer does that is incredibly stupid is that (by 
> default) it hides file extensions for known file types.  Generally 
> ".RData" will be registered as a known file type.  Exporer will cut off
> the ".RData" part the name of a file with that extension, and only show
> the first part of the name.  Since the file ".RData" has no starting 
> part of a name, it will be listed with a blank name.
> 
> What you should do (and what Microsoft should set the default to) is to
> turn off this bad policy of listing filenames incorrectly.  I don't 
> remember how to do it in Windows 7 or Vista, but on XP, here's how:
> 
> Go into Explorer in some folder.
> 
> Click on the "Tools" menu, then the "Folder Options..." choice.
> 
> Choose the View tab.
> 
> About 10 choices down within Files and Folders, you'll see "Hide 
> Extensions for Known File Types".  Make sure this is *not* checked.
> 
> If you're sane, you'll then click on the button "Apply to all folders",
> but you might just want to click on "OK" to try it out on one folder
> first.
> 
> Duncan Murdoch

That is a nice reply, Duncan, and an excellent explanation of why
".Rdata" has no name! I also like the final sentence.
I would only add:

If you're sane, and want to stay sane, think about not using Windows.

Ted.

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E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <ted.harding at wlandres.net>
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Date: 14-Nov-10                                       Time: 16:58:49
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