Package 'rcloner' reference manual

Title:	Interface to 'rclone' Cloud Storage Utility
Description:	Provides an R interface to 'rclone' <https://rclone.org>, a command-line program for managing files on cloud storage. 'rclone' supports over 40 cloud storage providers including 'S3'-compatible services ('Amazon S3', 'MinIO', 'Ceph'), 'Google Cloud Storage', 'Azure Blob Storage', and many others. This package downloads and manages the 'rclone' binary automatically and wraps its commands as R functions, returning results as data frames where appropriate.
Authors:	Carl Boettiger [aut, cre] (ORCID: <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1642-628X>)
Maintainer:	Carl Boettiger <[email protected]>
License:	MIT + file LICENSE
Version:	0.0.1
Built:	2026-05-26 08:45:45 UTC
Source:	https://github.com/boettiger-lab/rcloner

Install the rclone binary

Description

Downloads and installs the rclone binary for the current platform. The binary is stored in a user-writable directory and does not require system-level installation.

Usage

install_rclone(
  force = FALSE,
  dest = getOption("rcloner.dir", tools::R_user_dir("rcloner", "data"))
)
install_rclone(
  force = FALSE,
  dest = getOption("rcloner.dir", tools::R_user_dir("rcloner", "data"))
)

Arguments

force

Logical; if TRUE, re-download even if rclone is already installed. Default FALSE.

dest

Directory in which to install rclone. Defaults to the value of options("rcloner.dir"), falling back to tools::R_user_dir("rcloner", "data").

Value

Invisibly, the path to the installed rclone binary.

Examples

## Not run: 
install_rclone()

## End(Not run)
## Not run: 
install_rclone()

## End(Not run)

Run an rclone command

Description

Low-level wrapper that runs any rclone command. Higher-level functions like rclone_copy(), rclone_ls(), etc. call this internally.

Usage

rclone(args = character(), env = NULL, echo = FALSE, error_on_status = TRUE)
rclone(args = character(), env = NULL, echo = FALSE, error_on_status = TRUE)

Arguments

args

Character vector of arguments passed to rclone (the command and its flags). Alternatively a single space-delimited string.

env

Named character vector of environment variables, or NULL.

echo

Logical; if TRUE, print stdout/stderr as it is produced. Default FALSE.

error_on_status

Logical; if TRUE (default), stop with an error when rclone exits with a non-zero status.

Value

A list with elements status, stdout, stderr, and timeout (invisibly).

Examples


rclone("version")
## Not run: 
rclone(c("ls", "myremote:mybucket"))

## End(Not run)

rclone("version")
## Not run: 
rclone(c("ls", "myremote:mybucket"))

## End(Not run)

Get quota information for a remote

Description

Get quota information for a remote

Usage

rclone_about(path)
rclone_about(path)

Arguments

path

Remote name or path (e.g. "myremote:").

Value

A list with quota details (free, used, total bytes).

Examples

## Not run: 
rclone_about("myremote:")

## End(Not run)
## Not run: 
rclone_about("myremote:")

## End(Not run)

Check whether rclone is available

Description

Returns TRUE if the rclone binary can be found and executed. Useful as a condition for ⁠\examplesIf⁠.

Usage

rclone_available()
rclone_available()

Value

Logical scalar.

Examples

rclone_available()
rclone_available()

Output file content to R

Description

Reads the content of a remote file and returns it as a character string, analogous to cat on the command line.

Usage

rclone_cat(path)
rclone_cat(path)

Arguments

path

Remote path to the file.

Value

Character string with the file content.

Examples


tmp <- tempfile(fileext = ".txt")
writeLines("hello rclone", tmp)
txt <- rclone_cat(tmp)
cat(txt)
## Not run: 
txt <- rclone_cat("myremote:bucket/readme.txt")
cat(txt)

## End(Not run)

tmp <- tempfile(fileext = ".txt")
writeLines("hello rclone", tmp)
txt <- rclone_cat(tmp)
cat(txt)
## Not run: 
txt <- rclone_cat("myremote:bucket/readme.txt")
cat(txt)

## End(Not run)

Check whether two remotes are in sync

Description

Compares the files in src and dest without transferring anything. Differences are reported as messages.

Usage

rclone_check(src, dest, ...)
rclone_check(src, dest, ...)

Arguments

src

Source path.

dest

Destination path.

...

Additional rclone flags.

Value

Invisibly, the rclone result list (check stderr for differences).

Examples


src <- tempfile()
dir.create(src)
dest <- tempfile()
dir.create(dest)
rclone_check(src, dest)

src <- tempfile()
dir.create(src)
dest <- tempfile()
dir.create(dest)
rclone_check(src, dest)

Configure an rclone remote

Description

Creates or updates a named remote in the rclone config file. This is the primary way to register cloud storage credentials with rclone.

Usage

rclone_config_create(name, type, ...)
rclone_config_create(name, type, ...)

Arguments

name

Name for the remote (used as the prefix in paths, e.g. "myremote:bucket/key").

type

Remote type, e.g. "s3", "gcs", "azureblob", "drive". Run rclone("help backends") to see all supported types.

...

Named parameters passed to the remote configuration. For S3 remotes this typically includes provider, access_key_id, secret_access_key, and optionally endpoint (for non-AWS S3).

Value

Invisibly, the result of the rclone command.

Examples

## Not run: 
# AWS S3
rclone_config_create("aws", type = "s3",
  provider = "AWS",
  access_key_id = Sys.getenv("AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID"),
  secret_access_key = Sys.getenv("AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY"),
  region = "us-east-1"
)

# MinIO / S3-compatible
rclone_config_create("minio", type = "s3",
  provider = "Minio",
  access_key_id = Sys.getenv("MINIO_ACCESS_KEY"),
  secret_access_key = Sys.getenv("MINIO_SECRET_KEY"),
  endpoint = "https://minio.example.com"
)

## End(Not run)
## Not run: 
# AWS S3
rclone_config_create("aws", type = "s3",
  provider = "AWS",
  access_key_id = Sys.getenv("AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID"),
  secret_access_key = Sys.getenv("AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY"),
  region = "us-east-1"
)

# MinIO / S3-compatible
rclone_config_create("minio", type = "s3",
  provider = "Minio",
  access_key_id = Sys.getenv("MINIO_ACCESS_KEY"),
  secret_access_key = Sys.getenv("MINIO_SECRET_KEY"),
  endpoint = "https://minio.example.com"
)

## End(Not run)

Delete an rclone remote

Description

Delete an rclone remote

Usage

rclone_config_delete(name)
rclone_config_delete(name)

Arguments

name

Remote name to delete.

Value

Invisibly, the result of the rclone command.

Examples

## Not run: 
rclone_config_delete("myremote")

## End(Not run)
## Not run: 
rclone_config_delete("myremote")

## End(Not run)

Set individual parameters on an existing remote

Description

Set individual parameters on an existing remote

Usage

rclone_config_set(name, ...)
rclone_config_set(name, ...)

Arguments

name

Remote name.

...

Named parameters to set (key = value).

Value

Invisibly, the result of the rclone command.

Examples

## Not run: 
rclone_config_set("myremote", region = "us-west-2")

## End(Not run)
## Not run: 
rclone_config_set("myremote", region = "us-west-2")

## End(Not run)

Show rclone configuration

Description

Show rclone configuration

Usage

rclone_config_show(name = NULL)
rclone_config_show(name = NULL)

Arguments

name

Optional remote name. If omitted, shows all remotes.

Value

Character string with the configuration (invisibly). Also prints to the console.

Examples


rclone_config_show()

rclone_config_show()

Copy files between remotes or local paths

Description

Copies files from src to dest, skipping files that are identical. Does not delete files at the destination.

Usage

rclone_copy(src, dest, progress = FALSE, ...)
rclone_copy(src, dest, progress = FALSE, ...)

Arguments

src

Source path (local or remote).

dest

Destination path (local or remote).

progress

Logical; show transfer progress. Default FALSE.

...

Additional rclone flags as character strings.

Value

Invisibly, the rclone result list.

Examples


src <- tempfile()
dir.create(src)
writeLines("hello", file.path(src, "file.txt"))
dest <- tempfile()
rclone_copy(src, dest)
list.files(dest)
## Not run: 
rclone_copy("myremote:bucket/file.csv", "/tmp/file.csv")

## End(Not run)

src <- tempfile()
dir.create(src)
writeLines("hello", file.path(src, "file.txt"))
dest <- tempfile()
rclone_copy(src, dest)
list.files(dest)
## Not run: 
rclone_copy("myremote:bucket/file.csv", "/tmp/file.csv")

## End(Not run)

Copy a URL directly to a remote

Description

Downloads a URL and uploads it to dest without storing it locally first.

Usage

rclone_copyurl(url, dest, ...)
rclone_copyurl(url, dest, ...)

Arguments

url

URL to copy.

dest

Destination remote path.

...

Additional rclone flags.

Value

Invisibly, the rclone result list.

Examples

## Not run: 
rclone_copyurl("https://example.com/data.csv", "myremote:bucket/data.csv")

## End(Not run)
## Not run: 
rclone_copyurl("https://example.com/data.csv", "myremote:bucket/data.csv")

## End(Not run)

Delete files at a remote path

Description

Deletes the files (not directories) at the given path. To remove a directory and all its contents use rclone_purge().

Usage

rclone_delete(path, ...)
rclone_delete(path, ...)

Arguments

path

Remote path to delete.

...

Additional rclone flags.

Value

Invisibly, the rclone result list.

Examples


d <- tempfile()
dir.create(d)
writeLines("hi", file.path(d, "f.txt"))
rclone_delete(d)

d <- tempfile()
dir.create(d)
writeLines("hi", file.path(d, "f.txt"))
rclone_delete(d)

Generate a public link for a remote file

Description

Not all remotes support this operation.

Usage

rclone_link(path)
rclone_link(path)

Arguments

path

Remote path to the file.

Value

Character string with the public URL.

Examples

## Not run: 
rclone_link("myremote:bucket/file.csv")

## End(Not run)
## Not run: 
rclone_link("myremote:bucket/file.csv")

## End(Not run)

List configured remotes

Description

List configured remotes

Usage

rclone_listremotes()
rclone_listremotes()

Value

Character vector of remote names.

Examples


rclone_listremotes()

rclone_listremotes()

List objects in a remote path

Description

Returns a data frame of objects at the given path, parsed from rclone's JSON output. This is the primary listing function and maps to ⁠rclone lsjson⁠.

Usage

rclone_ls(path, recursive = FALSE, dirs_only = FALSE, files_only = FALSE, ...)
rclone_ls(path, recursive = FALSE, dirs_only = FALSE, files_only = FALSE, ...)

Arguments

path

Remote path in rclone syntax, e.g. "myremote:bucket/prefix". For local paths use the filesystem path directly.

recursive

Logical; if TRUE, list all objects recursively. Default FALSE.

dirs_only

Logical; if TRUE, list only directories. Default FALSE.

files_only

Logical; if TRUE, list only files (no directories). Default FALSE.

...

Additional flags passed to ⁠rclone lsjson⁠ as strings (e.g. "--fast-list").

Value

A data frame with columns Path, Name, Size, MimeType, ModTime, IsDir, and optionally others returned by rclone.

Examples


rclone_ls(tempdir())
rclone_ls(tempdir(), recursive = TRUE)
## Not run: 
rclone_ls("myremote:mybucket")

## End(Not run)

rclone_ls(tempdir())
rclone_ls(tempdir(), recursive = TRUE)
## Not run: 
rclone_ls("myremote:mybucket")

## End(Not run)

List directories in a remote path

Description

Convenience wrapper around rclone_ls() that returns only directories.

Usage

rclone_lsd(path, recursive = FALSE, ...)
rclone_lsd(path, recursive = FALSE, ...)

Arguments

path

Remote path in rclone syntax, e.g. "myremote:bucket/prefix". For local paths use the filesystem path directly.

recursive

Logical; if TRUE, list all objects recursively. Default FALSE.

...

Additional flags passed to ⁠rclone lsjson⁠ as strings (e.g. "--fast-list").

Value

A data frame (see rclone_ls()).

Examples


rclone_lsd(tempdir())

rclone_lsd(tempdir())

Create a directory or bucket

Description

Create a directory or bucket

Usage

rclone_mkdir(path)
rclone_mkdir(path)

Arguments

path

Remote path to create.

Value

Invisibly, the rclone result list.

Examples


d <- tempfile()
rclone_mkdir(d)

d <- tempfile()
rclone_mkdir(d)

Move files between remotes or local paths

Description

Moves files from src to dest. Source files are deleted after a successful transfer.

Usage

rclone_move(src, dest, progress = FALSE, ...)
rclone_move(src, dest, progress = FALSE, ...)

Arguments

src

Source path (local or remote).

dest

Destination path (local or remote).

progress

Logical; show transfer progress. Default FALSE.

...

Additional rclone flags as character strings.

Value

Invisibly, the rclone result list.

Examples


src <- tempfile()
dir.create(src)
writeLines("hello", file.path(src, "file.txt"))
dest <- tempfile()
rclone_move(src, dest)

src <- tempfile()
dir.create(src)
writeLines("hello", file.path(src, "file.txt"))
dest <- tempfile()
rclone_move(src, dest)

Remove a path and all its contents

Description

Deletes all files and directories under path. Use with caution.

Usage

rclone_purge(path)
rclone_purge(path)

Arguments

path

Remote path to purge.

Value

Invisibly, the rclone result list.

Examples


d <- tempfile()
dir.create(d)
writeLines("hi", file.path(d, "f.txt"))
rclone_purge(d)

d <- tempfile()
dir.create(d)
writeLines("hi", file.path(d, "f.txt"))
rclone_purge(d)

Remove an empty directory

Description

Remove an empty directory

Usage

rclone_rmdir(path)
rclone_rmdir(path)

Arguments

path

Remote path to the directory.

Value

Invisibly, the rclone result list.

Examples


d <- tempfile()
dir.create(d)
rclone_rmdir(d)

d <- tempfile()
dir.create(d)
rclone_rmdir(d)

Get total size of a remote path

Description

Get total size of a remote path

Usage

rclone_size(path)
rclone_size(path)

Arguments

path

Remote path.

Value

A named list with count (number of objects) and bytes (total size in bytes).

Examples


rclone_size(tempdir())

rclone_size(tempdir())

Get metadata for a single object

Description

Get metadata for a single object

Usage

rclone_stat(path)
rclone_stat(path)

Arguments

path

Remote path to a single object.

Value

A one-row data frame with object metadata, or an error if not found.

Examples


f <- tempfile()
writeLines("hello", f)
rclone_stat(f)

f <- tempfile()
writeLines("hello", f)
rclone_stat(f)

Sync a source to a destination

Description

Makes dest identical to src, deleting files in dest that are not in src. Use rclone_copy() if you do not want deletions.

Usage

rclone_sync(src, dest, progress = FALSE, ...)
rclone_sync(src, dest, progress = FALSE, ...)

Arguments

src

Source path (local or remote).

dest

Destination path (local or remote).

progress

Logical; show transfer progress. Default FALSE.

...

Additional rclone flags as character strings.

Value

Invisibly, the rclone result list.

Examples


src <- tempfile()
dir.create(src)
writeLines("hello", file.path(src, "file.txt"))
dest <- tempfile()
rclone_sync(src, dest)
## Not run: 
rclone_sync("myremote:bucket", "/local/backup")

## End(Not run)

src <- tempfile()
dir.create(src)
writeLines("hello", file.path(src, "file.txt"))
dest <- tempfile()
rclone_sync(src, dest)
## Not run: 
rclone_sync("myremote:bucket", "/local/backup")

## End(Not run)

Show rclone version information

Description

Show rclone version information

Usage

rclone_version()
rclone_version()

Value

Invisibly, a character string with the version output.

Examples


rclone_version()

rclone_version()

Package 'rcloner'

Help Index

Install the rclone binary

Description

Usage

Arguments

Value

Examples

Run an rclone command

Description

Usage

Arguments

Value

Examples

Get quota information for a remote

Description

Usage

Arguments

Value

Examples

Check whether rclone is available

Description

Usage

Value

Examples

Output file content to R

Description

Usage

Arguments

Value

Examples

Check whether two remotes are in sync

Description

Usage

Arguments

Value

Examples

Configure an rclone remote

Description

Usage

Arguments

Value

Examples

Delete an rclone remote

Description

Usage

Arguments

Value

Examples

Set individual parameters on an existing remote

Description

Usage

Arguments

Value

Examples

Show rclone configuration

Description

Usage

Arguments

Value

Examples

Copy files between remotes or local paths

Description

Usage

Arguments

Value

Examples

Copy a URL directly to a remote

Description

Usage

Arguments

Value

Examples

Delete files at a remote path

Description

Usage

Arguments

Value

Examples

Generate a public link for a remote file