Appendix A — Functions for reading data into R

R can read data in many different formats. Different functions (often from different packages) are needed to read files of different formats. These are some of the functions needed to read common types of file used in data analysis, including spatial data formats.

Functions for reading data into R
Data file type	Package	Function	Can load compressed files?	Can load files from URL?
Comma-separated values (`.csv`)	readr	`read_csv()` (data from English-speaking countries) or `read_csv2()` (data from elsewhere)	yes	yes
Fixed-width files (usually `.txt`)	readr	`read_fwf()`	yes	yes
GeoJSON (`.geojson`)	sf	`read_sf()`	no	yes
GeoPackage (`.gpkg`)	sf	`read_sf()`	no	yes
Google Sheets	googlesheets4	`read_sheet()`	n/a	yes
HTML (`.htm` or `.html`)	xml2	`read_html()` (probably used with functions from the rvest package)	n/a	yes
JSON (`.json`)	jsonlite	`read_json()`	yes	yes
Microsoft Excel (`.xlsx` or `.xls`)	readxl	`read_excel()`	no	no
OpenDocument Spreadsheet (`.ods`)	readODS	`read_ods()`	no	yes
R Data (`.rds`)	readr	`read_rds()`	n/a	yes
SAS (`.sas7bdat`)	haven	`read_sas()`	yes	yes
Shapefile (`.shp`)	sf	`read_sf()`	no	no
SPSS Statistics (`.sav`)	haven	`read_sav()`	yes	yes
Stata (`.dta`)	haven	`read_dta()`	yes	yes
Tab-separated values (`.tsv` or `.tab`)	readr	`read_tsv()`	yes	yes
XML (usually `.xml`)	xml2	`read_xml()`	yes	yes

# Functions for reading data into R {#sec-load-functions} ```{r setup} #| include: false library(gt) library(tidyverse) ``` R can read data in many different formats. Different functions (often from different packages) are needed to read files of different formats. These are some of the functions needed to read common types of file used in data analysis, including spatial data formats. ```{r file-formats} #| echo: false tribble( ~type, ~package, ~`function`, ~compressed, ~remote, "Comma-separated values (`.csv`)", "[readr](https://readr.tidyverse.org/)", "[`read_csv()`](https://readr.tidyverse.org/reference/read_delim.html) (data from English-speaking countries) or [`read_csv2()`](https://readr.tidyverse.org/reference/read_delim.html) (data from elsewhere)", TRUE, TRUE, "Fixed-width files (usually `.txt`)", "[readr](https://readr.tidyverse.org/)", "[`read_fwf()`](https://readr.tidyverse.org/reference/read_fwf.html)", TRUE, TRUE, "GeoJSON (`.geojson`)", "[sf](https://r-spatial.github.io/sf/)", "[`read_sf()`](https://r-spatial.github.io/sf/reference/st_read.html)", FALSE, TRUE, "GeoPackage (`.gpkg`)", "[sf](https://r-spatial.github.io/sf/)", "[`read_sf()`](https://r-spatial.github.io/sf/reference/st_read.html)", FALSE, TRUE, "Google Sheets", "[googlesheets4](https://googlesheets4.tidyverse.org/)", "[`read_sheet()`](https://googlesheets4.tidyverse.org/reference/range_read.html)", NA, TRUE, "HTML (`.htm` or `.html`)", "[xml2](https://xml2.r-lib.org/)", "[`read_html()`](https://xml2.r-lib.org/reference/read_xml.html) (probably used with functions from the rvest package)", NA, TRUE, "JSON (`.json`)", "[jsonlite](https://github.com/jeroen/jsonlite#jsonlite)", "`read_json()`", TRUE, TRUE, "Microsoft Excel (`.xlsx` or `.xls`)", "[readxl](https://readxl.tidyverse.org/)", "[`read_excel()`](https://readxl.tidyverse.org/reference/read_excel.html)", FALSE, FALSE, "OpenDocument Spreadsheet (`.ods`)", "[readODS](https://github.com/ropensci/readODS/)", "`read_ods()`", FALSE, TRUE, "R Data (`.rds`)", "[readr](https://readr.tidyverse.org/)", "[`read_rds()`](https://readr.tidyverse.org/reference/read_rds.html)", NA, TRUE, "SAS (`.sas7bdat`)", "[haven](https://haven.tidyverse.org/)", "[`read_sas()`](https://haven.tidyverse.org/reference/read_sas.html)", TRUE, TRUE, "Shapefile (`.shp`)", "[sf](https://r-spatial.github.io/sf/)", "[`read_sf()`](https://r-spatial.github.io/sf/reference/st_read.html)", FALSE, FALSE, "SPSS Statistics (`.sav`)", "[haven](https://haven.tidyverse.org/)", "[`read_sav()`](https://haven.tidyverse.org/reference/read_spss.html)", TRUE, TRUE, "Stata (`.dta`)", "[haven](https://haven.tidyverse.org/)", "[`read_dta()`](https://haven.tidyverse.org/reference/read_dta.html)", TRUE, TRUE, "Tab-separated values (`.tsv` or `.tab`)", "[readr](https://readr.tidyverse.org/)", "[`read_tsv()`](https://readr.tidyverse.org/reference/read_delim.html)", TRUE, TRUE, "XML (usually `.xml`)", "[xml2](https://xml2.r-lib.org/)", "[`read_xml()`](https://xml2.r-lib.org/reference/read_xml.html)", TRUE, TRUE ) |> mutate( across( c(compressed, remote), ~ recode(as.character(.), "TRUE" = "yes", "FALSE" = "no", .missing = "n/a") ) ) |> gt(caption = "Functions for reading data into R") |> opt_row_striping(row_striping = TRUE) |> tab_style(style = cell_text(v_align = "top"), locations = cells_body()) |> fmt_markdown(columns = everything()) |> cols_label( type = "Data file type", package = "Package", `function` = "Function", compressed = "Can load compressed files?", remote = "Can load files from URL?" ) ```