save                  package:base                  R Documentation

Save R Objects

Description:

     'save' writes an external representation of R objects to the
     specified file.  The objects can be read back from the file at a
     later date by using the function 'load' (or 'data' in some cases).

     'save.image()' is just a short-cut for "save my current
     environment", i.e., 'save(list = ls(all=TRUE), file = ".RData")'. 
     It is what also happens with 'q("yes")'.

Usage:

     save(..., list = character(0), file = stop("'file' must be specified"),
          ascii = FALSE, version = NULL, envir = parent.frame(), 
          compress = FALSE)
     save.image(file = ".RData", version = NULL, ascii = FALSE,
                compress = FALSE, safe = TRUE)

     sys.load.image(name, quiet)
     sys.save.image(name)

Arguments:

     ...: the names of the objects to be saved.

    list: A character vector containing the names of objects to be
          saved.

    file: a connection or the name of the file where the data will be
          saved.  Must be a file name for workspace format version 1.

   ascii: if 'TRUE', an ASCII representation of the data is written. 
          This is useful for transporting data between machines of
          different types.  The default value of 'ascii' is 'FALSE'
          which leads to a more compact binary file being written.

 version: the workspace format version to use.  'NULL' specifies the
          current default format.  The version used from R 0.99.0 to R
          1.3.1 was version 1.  The default format as from R 1.4.0 is
          version 2.

   envir: environment to search for objects to be saved.

compress: logical specifying whether saving to a named file is to use
          compression. Ignored when 'file' is a connection and for
          workspace format version 1.

    safe: logical.  If 'TRUE', a temporary file is used for creating
          the saved workspace.  The temporary file is renamed to 'file'
          if the save succeeds.  This preserves an existing workspace
          'file' if the save fails, but at the cost of using extra disk
          space during the save.

    name: name of image file to save or load.

   quiet: logical specifying whether a message should be printed.

Details:

     All R platforms use the XDR representation of binary objects in
     binary save-d files, and these are portable across all R
     platforms.

     Default values for the 'ascii', 'compress', 'safe' and 'version'
     arguments can be modified with the 'save.defaults' option (used
     both by 'save' and 'save.image'). If a 'save.image.defaults'
     option is set it overrides 'save.defaults' for function
     'save.image' (which allows to have different defaults). This
     mechanism is experimental and subject to change.

     'sys.save.image' is a system function that is called by 'q()' and
     its GUI analogs; 'sys.load.image' is called by the startup code.
     These functions should not be called directly and are subject to
     change.

     'sys.save.image' closes all connections first, to ensure that it
     is able to open a connection to save the image.  This is
     appropriate when called from 'q()' and allies, but reinforces the
     warning that it should not be called directly.

Warning:

     The '...' arguments only give the _names_ of the objects to be
     saved: they are searched for in the environment given by the
     'envir' argument, and the actual objects given as arguments need
     not be those found.  

     Saved R objects are binary files, even those saved with
     'ascii=TRUE', so ensure that they are transferred without
     conversion of end of line markers.  The lines are delimited by LF
     on all platforms.

See Also:

     'dput', 'dump', 'load', 'data'.

Examples:

     x <- runif(20)
     y <- list(a = 1, b = TRUE, c = "oops")
     save(x, y, file = "xy.Rdata")
     save.image()
     unlink("xy.Rdata")
     unlink(".RData")

     # set save defaults using option:
     options(save.defaults=list(ascii=TRUE, safe=FALSE))
     save.image()
     unlink(".RData")

