7

I often find it more useful to run R on the command line (windows). However when I try it in Powershell I tend to run into problems, but this is easily overcome by first running cmd and then it works.

This is the error I get when I do R CMD BATCH

Invoke-History: A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts the argument 'BATCH'

I later realised that r is an alias that returns the immediate past command, hence my inability to run R.

Subsequently, I found that using the full filename for the executable (i.e. R.exe) or using Rcmd.exe (i.e. Rcmd BATCH ...) worked.

However, I'm just curious, is there a work around, in case one runs into similar conflicts?

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3
  • Do you want to run an R session in terminal or run R scripts at command line? Commented Aug 27, 2017 at 14:01
  • My intention is to run R CMD with its options like build, INSTALL, check, etc. Commented Aug 27, 2017 at 14:18
  • 1
    I think you found the workaround: use the full filename, including the extension Commented Aug 27, 2017 at 14:32

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
10

To start R in powershell:

R.exe
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2 Comments

Thanks. I've since learned to use R in PowerShell or cmd.exe by running rterm.
If you need to enter R.exe in your system %PATH%, just restarting the installer will remind you where the binary is. Note that just typing R invokes PowerShell's history feature, which masks the executable.
2

The workaround would be fully defining your calls.

& "path\to the\r.exe" arg1 arg2 etc

Alternatively,

$P = @{
  FilePath="path\to the\r.exe"
  ArgumentList=@('arg1','arg2')
}
Start-Process @P
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6 Comments

Thanks. One of the reasons I asked this question is due to an unrelated issue wherein I cannot run 7-Zip's 7z in PS 2.0, while it works perfectly when I run it in cmd. So I am unable to use a script containing it.
Do you get errors? I haven't run into any issues with the 7z cli in ps2 scripts
It's on my workplace machine. When I get there tomorrow, I will post the error for all to see. Thanks, again.
I am aware that PS 2.0 is being deprecated, but I think it may be worth pointing out, even if it's for academic interest.
@VictorOrdu I'm also stuck on v2 in my workplace for the time being.
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1

I ran into this problem on linux, where there is no file extension for executables, so that didn't help, but still there are two options:

  • /usr/bin/R if it is installed in the usual location
  • Start-Process R (the start-process cmdlet does not need to be capitalized)
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