There is information on http;//batchfiles.googlecode.com on setting your PATH.
On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 2:41 PM, Tony Breyal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi, > > Uwe -- ahh, thank you kindly, I was able to do a web search after > reading your post above in order to find a guide on how to set the > path in windows (i wasn't aware that this is how a file is made > avaiable to the system). I haven't got it to work yet, but at least > i'm on the right track! also just after reading your post, i've > discoverd the system() function in R, what wonderful thing that is! > > Clair -- I'm still working on getting the files to be accessable to > the system, but in the mean time i have just discovered the system() > function in R which is work around for the moment... so using your > example, you could do: > ## R code >> system(paste('"C:/Program Files/xpdf/pdftotext.exe"', '"C:/Documents and >> Settings/clair/Desktop/test/r-intro.pdf"'), wait=FALSE) > > the above will create a new text document in your c:/../test folder. > > > Now obviously, we want to use the readPDF() function in package: tm. > so on my uni laptop, running windows XP, this is what i have done: > > 1. Click through: start >> control panel >> system > 2. Click the Advanced tab. > 3. Click Environment variables. > 4. Click New (under 'system') to add a new variable name and value. > 4a. name: pdftotext > 4b. value: C:\Program Files\xpdf\pdftotext.exe > 5. Click New (under 'system') to add a new variable name and value. > 4a. name: pdfinfo > 4b. value: C:\Program Files\xpdf\pdfinfo.exe > > > In theory, i think, that should work. however so far it hasn't, so not > quite sure what to do. but at least in the mean time we have the system > () function as a work around. If you can figure out what i'm doing > wrong (probably something obvious knowing me!) please do let me know. > > Cheers, > Tony Breyal > > > > On 16 Nov, 18:14, Uwe Ligges <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >> > I never said it *should* work. >> >> > I was simply trying something out that works on other types of files >> > I've needed in the past (eg: html, csv, dat, etc.). I don't know the >> > details of the pdf format, but I thought it was worth a try, certainly >> > no harm in experimenting, and hence I learned that pdfs aren't stored >> > in the same way that other files i've used in the past are. that's >> > fine, good to learn new things. >> >> > As for trying the readPDF() function, yes, I have downloaded and used >> > xpdf to convert pdfs into plain text since reading the OP email. >> > However, ow you can make xpdf available to the system so that readPDF >> > () works in R? i don't know, hence why I posted in this thread. >> >> > You clearly seem to have a solution, fancy sharing? >> >> Sure, I thought that could not be a real question: >> Set your environment variable PATH so that it additionally points to the >> directory where these tools are installed. As you would do for any other >> software that is to be called without knowledge where it is installed. >> >> Uwe Ligges >> >> >> >> > Clair Crossupton xx >> >> > On 16 Nov, 12:34, Uwe Ligges <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >> >>> Hello, I was just wondering if you had found a solution? I am having >> >>> the same difficulty of converting pdf's into plain text documents in >> >>> R. I originally thought I could use the readLines() function, but as >> >>> you can see below that did not work. >> >> Why the hell should it? It is designed to read *text* files. And what >> >> you get below is exactly how your PDF file looks like if you read it as >> >> text which it is NOT. Why do you not also go the readPDF() way (and yes, >> >> it is not always possible nor reliable to go that way). >> >> >> Uwe Ligges >> >> >>> R> my.destfile <- "C:\\Documents and Settings\\clair\\Desktop\\test\\r- >> >>> intro.pdf" >> >>> R> my.url <- "http://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/R-intro.pdf" >> >>> R> download.file(url = my.url, destfile=my.destfile, mode='wb') >> >>> R> txt <- readLines(my.destfile) >> >>> R> txt >> >>> [1] >> >>> "%PDF-1.4" >> >>> [2] >> >>> "%ÐÔÅØ" >> >>> [3] "1 0 obj >> >>> <<" >> >>> [4] "/Length 587 >> >>> " >> >>> [5] "/Filter / >> >>> FlateDecode" >> >>> [6] >> >>> ">>" >> >>> [7] >> >>> "stream" >> >>> [8] "xÚmTM [EMAIL PROTECTED]&ÎÁ±?\024tBL\020$ñ°ãd4›½*´.‰\002\001<øï·_•èÌf >> >>> \017'W¯_wÕ«îrðãc;Šòê`GæUŠOÛV×&³£øç¾ö\006ƒ¤Ê(R)\027[vïÖæ6ïWÛ7ñÑTÙÖvb >> >>> \030¯"uYt/N¼.³ó5·½êÿ¢¥=\025åS‚<b¸³¿G› " >> >>> Warm Regards, >> >>> Clair >> >>> On 13 Nov, 15:10, Tony Breyal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >>>> Dear R-Help, >> >>>> I need to convert a set of '.pdf' files into an equivalent set of >> >>>> '.txt' files. This is so that i can do some text mining on the >> >>>> content. >> >>>> In the latest R-News letter (http://cran.r-project.org/doc/Rnews/ >> >>>> Rnews_2008-2.pdf), the package 'tm' for text mining is mentioned. In >> >>>> that lovely package, there is a function called 'readPDF()'. In order >> >>>> to use this, ?readPDF says >> >>>> "Note that this PDF reader needs both the tools pdftotext and >> >>>> pdfinfo installed and accessable on your system." >> >>>> These tools are available fromhttp://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/download.html >> >>>> I am able to download this and use it easily from a dos window to >> >>>> convert a pdf file into a txt file. >> >>>> Question: how do i make these tools available to R, so that i can use >> >>>> the readPDF() function? >> >>>> Thank you in advance for any help, and I hope the above made sense. >> >>>> Tony Breyal >> >>>> ###OS = Windows Vista Ultimate>> sessionInfo() >> >>>> R version 2.8.0 (2008-10-20) >> >>>> i386-pc-mingw32 >> >>>> locale: >> >>>> LC_COLLATE=English_United Kingdom.1252;LC_CTYPE=English_United Kingdom. >> >>>> 1252;LC_MONETARY=English_United Kingdom. >> >>>> 1252;LC_NUMERIC=C;LC_TIME=English_United Kingdom.1252 >> >>>> attached base packages: >> >>>> [1] grid stats graphics grDevices utils datasets >> >>>> methods base >> >>>> other attached packages: >> >>>> [1] tm_0.3-1 XML_1.98-1 Snowball_0.0-3 >> >>>> RWeka_0.3-14 rJava_0.6-0 Matrix_0.999375-16 >> >>>> lattice_0.17-15 filehash_2.0 >> >>>> loaded via a namespace (and not attached): >> >>>> [1] proxy_0.4-1 >> >>>> ______________________________________________ >> >>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing >> >>>> listhttps://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help >> >>>> PLEASE do read the posting >> >>>> guidehttp://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html >> >>>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. >> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >>> ______________________________________________ >> >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list >> >>>https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help >> >>> PLEASE do read the posting >> >>> guidehttp://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html >> >>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. >> >> >> ______________________________________________ >> >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing listhttps://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help >> >> PLEASE do read the posting >> >> guidehttp://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html >> >> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. >> >> > ______________________________________________ >> > [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list >> >https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help >> > PLEASE do read the posting guidehttp://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html >> > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. >> >> ______________________________________________ >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing listhttps://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help >> PLEASE do read the posting guidehttp://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html >> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. > > ______________________________________________ > 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. > ______________________________________________ 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.