How to Call Python from R in a Windows OS?

Question

I'm looking for a way to call python within R on a Windows operating system. Since there appears to be no readily available R package for this (at least no package that's been updated recently), I'm looking for leads on how to write a set of commands in an R script that can then be sent in batch mode to python.

In short, how can I call python from R in a Windows OS?

Edit: To clarify, I am not asking about calling R from python; rather I am asking about calling python from R.

Update: Based on what I've gathered so far, here's a basic set of commands on running python from R in a Windows OS:

# (1) basic python commands called from R system('python -c "a = 2 + 2; print a"')  system('python -c "a = \'hello world\' ; print a; import pandas"')  # (2) if you have a python file you've already created (which I've referred to as "my.py"), then you can run it in R as follows: system("python C:\\Users\\Name\\Desktop\\my.py")  # or alternatively: system('python -c "import sys; sys.path.append(\'C:\\Users\\Name\\Desktop\'); import my;"') 

Neither of these approaches is at the level of interactivity needed for fluid data analysis using python in R on a Windows OS. The most straightforward solution might be to write a simple R function that (1) exports a specified R data frame to python, (2) parses python syntax written in R (using stringr and system('python -c')), and then (3) optionally exports the data back to R. It'd be a pseudo-interactivity in R based on updating a temporary python file through the R console.

Answer 1

You can use this package PythonInR

Answer 2

Make a python file....

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*- """ Created on Wed Mar  9 09:55:46 2016  @author: Subhash Jaini """  import pandas as pd d = {'First' : [1., 2., 3.],'Second' : [1,2,3]}   AA = pd.DataFrame(d) print(AA) 

---

save it to a place (I used c:/deleteme/pythonRun.py)

In R, run this code.

#calls the python script to run in shell BlobReturnedFromPython = shell('python c:/deleteme/pythonRun.py',intern=TRUE) #get the first line and turn it to your header HEADER = gsub(" ","",unlist(strsplit(as.character(BlobReturnedFromPython[1]),"  ")))[-1] #all the rest of the data is non header data NONHEADER = BlobReturnedFromPython[2:(length(BlobReturnedFromPython)-1)] #turnthat blob (which is seperated by about 4 spaces ) DATA = data.frame(sapply(NONHEADER,function(x){unlist(strsplit(x,"    "))})) #brings those names into the data set names(DATA) <- HEADER DATA