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Create a Directory Safely

safe_dir_create.Rd

Validates that the target directory name is a single “word” (letters, digits, and/or underscores only) before attempting to create it. Optionally handles nested creation, warnings, and permission bits.

Usage

safe_dir_create(
  path,
  pattern = "^[A-Za-z0-9_]+$",
  showWarnings = TRUE,
  recursive = FALSE
)

Arguments

path

Character. The name (or path) of the directory to create. Only the final component (basename) is validated.

pattern

Character. A regular expression that the directory name must match. Default is "^[A-Za-z0-9_]+$", i.e. one or more letters, digits, or underscores.

showWarnings

Logical. If TRUE, warns when the directory already exists or cannot be created. Default is TRUE.

recursive

Logical. If TRUE, creates any missing parent directories (like mkdir -p). Default is FALSE.

mode

Character or numeric. Directory permissions in octal (e.g. "0777"). Default is "0777".

Value

Invisibly returns TRUE if the directory was successfully created, FALSE otherwise. If the directory already exists, returns FALSE (with a message, unless showWarnings = FALSE).

Examples

# Successful creation
safe_dir_create("data_folder")
#> Error in safe_dir_create("data_folder"): could not find function "safe_dir_create"

# Fails validation (contains spaces)
try(safe_dir_create("my data"))
#> Error in safe_dir_create("my data") : 
#>   could not find function "safe_dir_create"