locatexec

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The package helps locate external programs such as “python”, “Google Chrome”, “node.js” and “LibreOffice” so that they can be called easily from R.

This makes it easier to call these programs from R across various operating systems.

library(locatexec)

if(exec_available("node")){
  message(exec_version("node"))
  message(node_exec())
}
#> 26.0.0
#> /opt/homebrew/bin/node
exec exec_fun available version path
node node_exec() TRUE 26.0.0 /opt/homebrew/bin/node
chrome chrome_exec() TRUE 148.0.7778.179 /Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome
python python_exec() TRUE 3.9.6 /usr/bin/python3
libreoffice libreoffice_exec() TRUE 26.2.3.2 /opt/homebrew/bin/soffice
excel excel_exec() TRUE 16.109.1 /Applications/Microsoft Excel.app/Contents/MacOS/Microsoft Excel
powerpoint powerpoint_exec() TRUE 16.109.1 /Applications/Microsoft PowerPoint.app/Contents/MacOS/Microsoft PowerPoint
pip pip_exec() TRUE 21.2.4 /usr/bin/pip3
firefox firefox_exec() TRUE 151.0.1 /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox
npm npm_exec() TRUE 11.12.1 /opt/homebrew/bin/npm
word word_exec() TRUE 16.109.1 /Applications/Microsoft Word.app/Contents/MacOS/Microsoft Word
air air_exec() TRUE 0.8.0 /Users/username/.local/bin/air
pandoc pandoc_exec() TRUE 3.9.0.2 /opt/homebrew/bin/pandoc

Motivations

This was motivated by the need for tools similar to rmarkdown::pandoc_available() and rmarkdown::pandoc_exec() but allowing to locate external programs other than pandoc.

I needed to call these programs from R without pulling in heavy dependencies.

Installation

You can install the CRAN version with:

install.packages("locatexec")