Export List with Advanced Directory Management

Source: R/export_list.R

The export_list function exports a list of data.frame, data.table, or compatible data structures with sophisticated directory handling, flexible naming, and multiple file format support.

export_list(split_dt, export_path = tempdir(), file_type = "txt")

Arguments

split_dt

A list of data.frame, data.table, or compatible data structures to be exported.

export_path

Base directory path for file export. Defaults to a temporary directory created by tempdir().

file_type

File export format, either "txt" (tab-separated) or "csv". Defaults to "txt".

Value

An integer representing the total number of files exported successfully.

Details

Comprehensive List Export Features:

  • Advanced nested directory structure support based on list element names

  • Intelligent handling of unnamed list elements

  • Automatic conversion to data.table for consistent export

  • Hierarchical directory creation with nested path names

  • Multi-format file export with intelligent separator selection

  • Robust error handling and input validation

File Export Capabilities:

  • Supports "txt" (tab-separated) and "csv" formats

  • Intelligent file naming based on list element names

  • Handles complex nested directory structures

  • Efficient file writing using data.table::fwrite()

Note

Key Capabilities:

  • Flexible list naming and directory management

  • Comprehensive support for data.frame and data.table inputs

  • Intelligent default naming for unnamed elements

  • High-performance file writing mechanism

Examples

# Example: Export split data to files

# Step 1: Create split data structure
dt_split <- w2l_split(
  data = iris,              # Input iris dataset
  cols2l = 1:2,             # Columns to be split
  by = "Species"            # Grouping variable
)

# Step 2: Export split data to files
export_list(
  split_dt = dt_split       # Input list of data.tables
)
#> [1] 6
# Returns the number of files created
# Files are saved in tempdir() with .txt extension

# Check exported files
list.files(
  path = tempdir(),         # Default export directory
  pattern = "txt",          # File type pattern to search
  recursive = TRUE          # Search in subdirectories
)
#> [1] "Sepal.Length_setosa.txt"     "Sepal.Length_versicolor.txt"
#> [3] "Sepal.Length_virginica.txt"  "Sepal.Width_setosa.txt"     
#> [5] "Sepal.Width_versicolor.txt"  "Sepal.Width_virginica.txt"  

# Clean up exported files
files <- list.files(
  path = tempdir(),         # Default export directory
  pattern = "txt",          # File type pattern to search
  recursive = TRUE,         # Search in subdirectories
  full.names = TRUE         # Return full file paths
)
file.remove(files)          # Remove all exported files
#> [1] TRUE TRUE TRUE TRUE TRUE TRUE