Hello, I'm working with a package that uses download.file in functions to extract information from remote databases. My current environment is Windows XP Pro SP3, R 2.7. A full extraction can be a great deal of data, so the download is accomplished in generally manageable packets, such that a single download will result in many files, which are written to a directory. It is not uncommon for a progressing download to fail unexpectedly midstream (firewall issues, server crashes/reboots, etc). When this occurs the last file remains attached (and empty), at least as far is Windows is concerned. I need to delete it to properly resume downloading. Windows won't let me do that unless I exit R, as it regards the file as in use. And unlink won't do it, although it doesn't report an error either. And if I try to unlink the folder containing the problem file, it deletes all files in the folder except the attached one, does not delete the folder, and again no message to indicate any problem. Any way to release the file without exiting and restarting R?
> showConnections(all=TRUE) description class mode text isopen can read can write 0 "stdin" "terminal" "r" "text" "opened" "yes" "no" 1 "stdout" "terminal" "w" "text" "opened" "no" "yes" 2 "stderr" "terminal" "w" "text" "opened" "no" "yes" > unlink("D:\\sharks\\KalmanFilter\\F34520\\AG2008072_2008074_sst.xyz") #does nothing, no message (status 0) > unlink("D:\\sharks\\KalmanFilter\\F34520",recursive=TRUE) #does not delete the folder, deletes any files in the folder EXCEPT the attached one, no message (status 0) > Mark Fowler Population Ecology Division > Bedford Inst of Oceanography > Dept Fisheries & Oceans > Dartmouth NS Canada B2Y 4A2 Tel. (902) 426-3529 Fax (902) 426-9710 Email fowl...@mar.dfo-mpo.gc.ca Home Tel. (902) 461-0708 Home Email mark.fow...@ns.sympatico.ca [[alternative HTML version deleted]] ______________________________________________ R-help@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.