Read the most recent file in a folder — read

Combines latest_file() with a file reader to load the most recent file matching a pattern. Automatically detects file type and uses the appropriate reader.

Usage

read_latest(path, pattern = NULL, recursive = FALSE, reader = NULL, ...)

Arguments

path: Directory path to search in.
pattern: Regular expression pattern to filter files. Default NULL matches all files.
recursive: Logical. If TRUE, searches subdirectories. Default FALSE.
reader: Function to read the file. Default NULL auto-detects based on file extension (supports .csv, .rds, .rda).
...: Additional arguments passed to the reader function.

Value

The contents of the most recent file, or NULL if no matching files found.

Details

Auto-detection supports these file types:

.csv: Uses utils::read.csv()
.rds: Uses readRDS()
.rda/.RData: Uses load() and returns the first object

For other file types or custom reading behavior, provide a reader function.

Examples

# Create a temporary CSV file
tmp <- tempdir()
write.csv(mtcars[1:3, ], file.path(tmp, "test_data.csv"), row.names = FALSE)

# Read the most recent CSV
df <- read_latest(tmp, pattern = "\\.csv$")
#> Reading: /tmp/RtmpCxkqGh/test_data.csv
head(df)
#>    mpg cyl disp  hp drat    wt  qsec vs am gear carb
#> 1 21.0   6  160 110 3.90 2.620 16.46  0  1    4    4
#> 2 21.0   6  160 110 3.90 2.875 17.02  0  1    4    4
#> 3 22.8   4  108  93 3.85 2.320 18.61  1  1    4    1

# Clean up
unlink(file.path(tmp, "test_data.csv"))