[R] save(), load(), saveRDS(), and readRDS()

[Micha Silver]

Jim always went beyond just posting answers. He helped me along in 
learning R, always showing solutions together with insightful 
explanations. His patience and good humor were remarkable.

Condolences to his family.


On 05/10/2023 1:36, Jim Lemon wrote:
> Hello,
> I am very sad to let you know that my husband Jim died on 18th September. I
> apologise for not letting you know earlier but I had trouble finding the
> password for his phone.
> Kind regards,
> Juel
>
> On Fri, 29 Sep 2023, 01:48 Shu Fai Cheung <shufai.cheung using gmail.com wrote:
>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> There is a thread about the use of save(), load(), saveRDS(), and
>> loadRDS(). It led me to think about a question regarding them.
>>
>> In my personal work, I prefer using saveRDS() and loadRDS() as I don't like
>> the risk of overwriting anything in the global environment. I also like the
>> freedom to name an object when reading it from a file.
>>
>> However, for teaching, I have to teach save() and load() because, in my
>> discipline, it is common for researchers to share their datasets on the
>> internet using the format saved by save(), and so students need to know how
>> to use load() and what will happen when using it. Actually, I can't recall
>> encountering datasets shared by the .rds format. I have been wondering why
>> save() was usually used in that case.
>>
>> That discussion led me to read the help pages again and I noticed the
>> following warning, from the help page of saveRDS():
>>
>> "Files produced by saveRDS (or serialize to a file connection) are not
>> suitable as an interchange format between machines, for example to download
>> from a website. The files produced by save
>> <http://127.0.0.1:18888/library/base/help/save> have a header identifying
>> the file type and so are better protected against erroneous use."
>>
>> When will the problem mentioned in the warning occur? That is, when will a
>> file saved by saveRDS() not be read correctly? Saved in Linux and then read
>> in Windows? Is it possible to create a reproducible error?
>>
>> Regards,
>> Shu Fai
>>
>>          [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-help using 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.
>>
> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help using 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.

-- 
Micha Silver
Ben Gurion Univ.
Sde Boker, Remote Sensing Lab
cell: +972-523-665918