Scheduling R Script

Question

I have written an R script that pulls some data from a database, performs several operations on it and post the output to a new database.

I would like this script to run every day at a specific time but I can not find any way to do this effectively.

Can anyone recommend a resource I could look at to solve this issue? I am running this script on a Windows machine.

Answer 1

Actually under Windows you do not even have to create a batch file first to use the Scheduler.

• Open the scheduler: START -> All Programs -> Accesories -> System Tools -> Scheduler
• Create a new Task
• under tab Action, create a new action
• choose Start Program
• browse to Rscript.exe which should be placed e.g. here:
  "C:\Program Files\R\R-3.0.2\bin\x64\Rscript.exe"
• input the name of your file in the parameters field
• input the path where the script is to be found in the Start in field
• go to the Triggers tab
• create new trigger
• choose that task should be done each day, month, ... repeated several times, or whatever you like

Answer 2

I set up my tasks via the SCHTASKS program. For running scripts on startup, you would write something along the lines of

SCHTASKS /Create /SC ONSTART /TN MyProgram /TR "R CMD BATCH --vanilla d:\path\to\script.R"

See this website for more details on SCHTASKS. More details at Microsoft's website.

Answer 3

Supposing your R script is mytest.r, located in D:\mydocuments\, you can create a batch file including the following command:

C:\R\R-2.10.1\bin\Rcmd.exe BATCH D:\mydocuments\mytest.r

Then add it, as a new task, to windows task scheduler, setting there the triggering conditions.

You could also omit the batch file. Set C:\R\R-2.10.1\bin\Rcmd.exe in the program/script textbox in task scheduler, and give as Arguments the rest of the initial command: BATCH D:\mydocuments\mytest.r

Scheduling R Tasks via Windows Task Scheduler (Posted on February 11, 2015)

taskscheduleR: R package to schedule R scripts with the Windows task manager (Posted on March 17, 2016)

Answer 4

You can use Windows Task Scheduler.

Answer 5

After following any combination of these steps and you receive the "Argument Batch Ignored" error after R.exe runs, try this, it worked for me.

In Windows Task Scheduler:

Replace BATCH "C:\Users\desktop\yourscript.R"in the arguments field

with

CMD BATCH --vanilla --slave "C:\Users\desktop\yourscript.R"