It works if the web file adress is of the type: "http://". It does not work if the web file adress is of the type: "'ftp://". > outFile <- read.xls("ftp://ftp.sanger.ac.uk/pub/mirbase/sequences/CU RRENT/miRNA.xls") Error in xls2csv(xls, sheet, verbose = verbose, ..., perl = perl) : Unable to read xls file 'ftp://ftp.sanger.ac.uk/pub/mirbase/sequences/CURRENT/miRNA.xls'. Error in file.exists(tfn) : invalid 'file' argument But the file does exists as shown in the following: > download.file("ftp://ftp.sanger.ac.uk/pub/mirbase/sequences/CURRENT/ miRNA.xls","outFile") trying URL 'ftp://ftp.sanger.ac.uk/pub/mirbase/sequences/CURRENT/miRNA.xls' ftp data connection made, file length 2563072 bytes opened URL downloaded 2.4 Mb Can the two steps (download + read.xls) be performed with one command line only ? Thank you, Maura -----Messaggio originale----- Da: r-help-bounces@r-project.org per conto di Daniel Nordlund Inviato: lun 06/07/2009 20.45 A: r-help@stat.math.ethz.ch Oggetto: Re: [R] R: R: Is there a way to extract some fields data fromHTML pages through any R function ? > -----Original Message----- > From: r-help-bounces@r-project.org > [mailto:r-help-bounces@r-project.org] On Behalf Of mauede@alice.it > Sent: Sunday, July 05, 2009 11:28 PM > To: Martin Morgan > Cc: r-help@stat.math.ethz.ch > Subject: [R] R: R: Is there a way to extract some fields data > from HTML pages through any R function ? > > It helps. But it is overly sophisticated. > I have already downloaded and used the Excel file containing > the validated stuff. > > Since there are R commands to download gzip as well as FASTA > files, I wonder whether it is possible to > automatically download the Excel file from > http://mirecords.umn.edu/miRecords/download.php > Actually the latter may not be the actual file URL because it > is necessary to click on the word "here" to download the file. > > Thank you, > Maura > Maura, I haven't seen a response to your question (however, I just may have missed it, or you mave have received an off-line response). I went to the URL above and found that the Excel file is at http://mirecords.umn.edu/miRecords/download_data.php?v=1 I think you could use the read.xls() function from the gdata package to get the file, something like this library(gdata) df <- read.xls("http://mirecords.umn.edu/miRecords/download_data.php?v=1") Hope this is helpful, Dan Daniel Nordlund Bothell, WA USA ______________________________________________ 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. [[alternative HTML version deleted]]

I will send you offline an enhancement for read.xls that accepts ftp connections. On Sun, Jul 26, 2009 at 11:32 AM, <mauede at="" alice.it=""> wrote: > It works if the web file adress is of the type: ?"http://". > It does not work if the web file adress is of the type: ?"'ftp://". >> outFile <- read.xls("ftp://ftp.sanger.ac.uk/pub/mirbase/sequences/C URRENT/miRNA.xls") > Error in xls2csv(xls, sheet, verbose = verbose, ..., perl = perl) : > ?Unable to read xls file 'ftp://ftp.sanger.ac.uk/pub/mirbase/sequences/CURRENT/miRNA.xls'. > Error in file.exists(tfn) : invalid 'file' argument > > But the file does exists as shown in the following: >> download.file("ftp://ftp.sanger.ac.uk/pub/mirbase/sequences/CURRENT /miRNA.xls","outFile") > trying URL 'ftp://ftp.sanger.ac.uk/pub/mirbase/sequences/CURRENT/miRNA.xls' > ftp data connection made, file length 2563072 bytes > opened URL > downloaded 2.4 Mb > > Can the two steps (download + read.xls) be performed with one command line ?only ? > > Thank you, > Maura > > > > -----Messaggio originale----- > Da: r-help-bounces at r-project.org per conto di Daniel Nordlund > Inviato: lun 06/07/2009 20.45 > A: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch > Oggetto: Re: [R] R: R: Is there a way to extract some fields data fromHTML ? ? ?pages through any R function ? > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org >> [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org] On Behalf Of mauede at alice.it >> Sent: Sunday, July 05, 2009 11:28 PM >> To: Martin Morgan >> Cc: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch >> Subject: [R] R: R: Is there a way to extract some fields data >> from HTML pages through any R function ? >> >> It helps. But it is overly sophisticated. >> I have already downloaded and used the Excel file containing >> the validated stuff. >> >> Since there are R commands to download gzip as well as FASTA >> files, I wonder whether it is possible to >> automatically download the Excel file from >> http://mirecords.umn.edu/miRecords/download.php >> Actually the latter may not be the actual file URL because it >> is necessary to click on the word "here" to download the file. >> >> Thank you, >> Maura >> > Maura, > > I haven't seen a response to your question (however, I just may have missed > it, or you mave have received an off-line response). ?I went to the URL > above and found that the Excel file is at > > http://mirecords.umn.edu/miRecords/download_data.php?v=1 > > I think you could use the read.xls() function from the gdata package to get > the file, something like this > > library(gdata) > df <- read.xls("http://mirecords.umn.edu/miRecords/download_data.php?v=1") > > Hope this is helpful, > > Dan > > Daniel Nordlund > Bothell, WA USA > > ______________________________________________ > R-help at 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. > > > > ? ? ? ?[[alternative HTML version deleted]] > > ______________________________________________ > R-help at 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. >