[R] Why can I reset directory in using setwd on desktop but not on laptop

WRAY NICHOLAS nicholas.wray at ntlworld.com
Fri Oct 9 22:34:16 CEST 2015


> ---------- Original Message ----------
>     From: WRAY NICHOLAS <nicholas.wray at ntlworld.com>
>     To: peter dalgaard <pdalgd at gmail.com>
>     Date: 09 October 2015 at 21:33
>     Subject: Re: [R] Why can I reset directory in using setwd on desktop but
> not on laptop
> 
> 
>     Thanks for your questions Peter
> 
>     Both machines are PCs
> 
>     In the R routine on my desktop I am changing the place where I store the
> various csv  files by commands like
> 
>     setwd("C:/Users/Nick/Documents/08915Trent/Outmatstore") where I'm storing
> particulur matrices (outmats) as csv files.  If I then say
> 
>     setwd("C:/Users/Nick/Documents/08915Trent/Resmatstore") to store another
> kind of matrix (resmats) as csv files elsewhere, the desktop is quite happy
> with this and lets me change and read.csv and write.csv without problems
> 
>     But, having created on my laptop exactly the same path ie
> C:/Users/Nick/Documents/08915Trent/Outmatstore or Resmatstore etc (that is, I
> have exactly the same folders nested in the same way on both machines), if I
> try to change horses in midstream, so to speak, I get an error message
> 
>     Error in setwd("C:/Users/Nick/08915Trent/Resmatstore") : 
>       cannot change working directory
> 
>     Not only this, but the laptop will not let me write to any path except one
> involving C:/Users/Nick etc that is if I try to write to any folder not part
> of the main administrator's path then it won't let me
> 
>     If I do getwd() on either machine before or after the attempt
> (unsuccessful on laptop) tochange directory I get whichever is the current
> directory, ie the new one on the desktop and the old one on the laptop...
> 
>     ?
> 
>     Thanks, Nick
> 
>         > > 
> >         On 09 October 2015 at 20:29 peter dalgaard <pdalgd at gmail.com> wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >         > On 09 Oct 2015, at 17:58 , WRAY NICHOLAS
> >         > <nicholas.wray at ntlworld.com> wrote:
> >         >
> >         > Thanks Sarah I didn't realise that there was a distinction between
> >         > between
> >         > asking about R per se and asking about r-studio... I shall try
> >         > specifying the
> >         > path and see whether that helps Thanks, Nick
> > 
> >         The key part of the story is not necessarily Rstudio specific,
> > though:
> > 
> >         You said that your laptop "won't allow me to reset the directory by
> > a setwd command".
> > 
> >         Now what makes you think that? I can imagine a number of
> > misinterpretations that might lead you there without it actually being true.
> > So:
> > 
> >         - Is there an error message?
> >         - What exactly did you type in?
> >         - Does the directory actually exist on both machines?
> >         - Are we talking about machines with the same architecure? (e.g., is
> > one a PC and the other one a Mac?)
> >         - If you do a getwd() before and after the setwd(), what happens?
> > 
> >         -pd
> > 
> >         >
> >         >>
> >         >> On 09 October 2015 at 16:51 Sarah Goslee <sarah.goslee at gmail.com>
> >         >> wrote:
> >         >>
> >         >>
> >         >> Sounds like an RStudio question to me. Someone might be able to
> >         >> help,
> >         >> but this mailing list is for R.
> >         >>
> >         >> You should also provide sessionInfo() output when asking
> >         >> potentially
> >         >> OS-related questions.
> >         >>
> >         >> You can always specify path as part of the write.csv() or other
> >         >> output
> >         >> command; you don't need to change the working directory
> >         >> necessarily.
> >         >>
> >         >> Sarah
> >         >>
> >         >> On Fri, Oct 9, 2015 at 11:43 AM, WRAY NICHOLAS
> >         >> <nicholas.wray at ntlworld.com> wrote:
> >         >>> Hi I am running the same r routine on both my desktop and my
> >         >>> laptop, and
> >         >>> writing results in the form of csv files into storage folders in
> >         >>> the
> >         >>> respective
> >         >>> users/documents files of both machines My desktop machine allows
> >         >>> me to
> >         >>> reset
> >         >>> the directory in the course of the r programme so that I can
> >         >>> write the
> >         >>> files
> >         >>> into different folders which makes it easier to keep track of
> >         >>> what's
> >         >>> what,
> >         >>> whereas my laptop won't allow me to reset the directory by a
> >         >>> setwd
> >         >>> command, and
> >         >>> I have to set the directory manually using the r studio tabs, so
> >         >>> basically on
> >         >>> the laptop every results file is going into the same folder,
> >         >>> which is
> >         >>> not
> >         >>> unworkable but not as easy to use later
> >         >>>
> >         >>> As far as I know I have the same r studio on both machines. Does
> >         >>> anyone
> >         >>> out
> >         >>> there know a) why I can't use a setwd command on the laptop, and
> >         >>> b)is
> >         >>> there
> >         >>> anything I can do to put this right?
> >         >>>
> >         >>> Thanks beforehand, as it were
> >         >>>
> >         >>> Nick Wray
> >         >>
> >         > [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> >         >
> >         > ______________________________________________
> >         > R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> >         > 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.
> > 
> >         --
> >         Peter Dalgaard, Professor,
> >         Center for Statistics, Copenhagen Business School
> >         Solbjerg Plads 3, 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark
> >         Phone: (+45)38153501
> >         Email: pd.mes at cbs.dk Priv: PDalgd at gmail.com
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >     > 
>     >
> 


 
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