Package {fileaccess}

fileaccess: File and Directory Access Validation

Description

Provides utility functions to validate read, write, execute, network, directory, and file access for local and UNC network paths. Useful for pre-flight checks before file operations in data pipelines.

Main functions

• read.access - Check if a path is readable

• write.access - Check if a path is writable

• execute.access - Check if a file/command is executable

• network.access - Check if a UNC network path is accessible

• directory.access - Check directory existence and permissions

• file.access - Check file existence, permissions and metadata

Author(s)

Maintainer: Vaishali JS vaishali123.js@gmail.com

Check Whether Path is a Directory

Description

Validates whether a directory exists and checks its read/write access along with content counts. Supports both local and UNC network paths.

Usage

directory.access(path)

Arguments

Value

A list of class directory_access_result containing:

• path - Normalized directory path

• exists - TRUE/FALSE

• readable - TRUE/FALSE

• writable - TRUE/FALSE

• file_count - Number of files in directory

• folder_count - Number of subdirectories

• empty - TRUE/FALSE

• status - Overall status message

Examples

# Check a temporary directory
result <- directory.access(tempdir())
print(result)

# Check a path that does not exist
result <- directory.access(
  file.path(tempdir(), "no_such_folder")
)
print(result)


# UNC network path (requires network access)
directory.access("//server/share/project")

Check Whether File is Executable

Description

Validates whether a file or command can be executed. Supports both local paths and executables available in system PATH.

Usage

execute.access(path)

Arguments

Value

A list of class execute_access_result containing:

• path - Resolved executable path

• exists - TRUE/FALSE

• executable - TRUE/FALSE

• in_path - TRUE/FALSE

• status - Overall status message

Examples

# Check if Rscript is available (available on all R machines)
result <- execute.access("Rscript")
print(result)

# Check a full path to an executable
result <- execute.access(file.path(R.home("bin"), "Rscript"))
print(result)

Check Whether Path is a File

Description

Validates whether a file exists and returns detailed file information including permissions, size, type, and timestamps. Supports both local and UNC network paths.

Usage

file.access(path)

Arguments

Value

A list of class file_access_result containing:

• path - Normalized file path

• exists - TRUE/FALSE

• can_read - TRUE/FALSE

• can_write - TRUE/FALSE

• can_execute - TRUE/FALSE

• locked - TRUE/FALSE

• size_mb - File size formatted

• type - Detected file type description

• modified - Last modified timestamp

• status - Overall status message

Examples

# Create a temp file and check it
tmp <- tempfile(fileext = ".csv")
writeLines("col1,col2\n1,2", tmp)
result <- file.access(tmp)
print(result)
unlink(tmp)

# Check a file that does not exist
result <- file.access(
  file.path(tempdir(), "missing.csv")
)
print(result)


# UNC network path (requires network access)
file.access("//server/share/data.csv")

Check Whether Path is a Network Path

Description

Validates whether a path is a network (UNC) path and whether it is accessible.

Usage

network.access(path)

Arguments

Value

A list of class network_access_result containing:

• path - Input path

• network_path - TRUE/FALSE

• server - Server name extracted from UNC path

• share - Share name extracted from UNC path

• accessible - TRUE/FALSE

• status - Overall status message

Examples

# A local path is not a network path
result <- network.access(tempdir())
print(result)

# Parse a UNC path structure (no network needed — just parsing)
result <- network.access("//myserver/myshare/data")
print(result)


# Real UNC network path (requires actual network access)
network.access("//server/share/data")

Check Whether File or Directory is Readable

Description

Validates whether a file or directory exists and can be accessed for reading. Supports both local and UNC network paths.

Usage

read.access(path)

Arguments

Value

A list of class read_access_result containing:

• path - Normalized input path

• exists - TRUE/FALSE

• type - "File" or "Directory"

• readable - TRUE/FALSE

• status - Overall status message

Examples

# Check a temporary directory
result <- read.access(tempdir())
print(result)

# Check an existing temporary file
tmp <- tempfile()
writeLines("hello", tmp)
result <- read.access(tmp)
print(result)
unlink(tmp)

# Check a path that does not exist
result <- read.access(file.path(tempdir(), "no_such_file.csv"))
print(result)


# UNC network path (requires network access)
read.access("//server/share/data/file.csv")

Check Whether File or Directory is Writable

Description

Validates whether a file or directory can be accessed for writing. Supports both local and UNC network paths.

Usage

write.access(path)

Arguments

Value

A list of class write_access_result containing:

• path - Normalized input path

• exists - TRUE/FALSE

• type - "File", "Directory", or "New File/Directory"

• writable - TRUE/FALSE

• status - Overall status message

Examples

# Check a temporary directory
result <- write.access(tempdir())
print(result)

# Check an existing temporary file
tmp <- tempfile()
writeLines("hello", tmp)
result <- write.access(tmp)
print(result)
unlink(tmp)

# Check a new file path that does not exist yet
result <- write.access(file.path(tempdir(), "newfile.csv"))
print(result)


# UNC network path (requires network access)
write.access("//server/share/output/results.csv")