R: Try various methods to download a file

download_file {xfun} | R Documentation

## Try various methods to download a file

### Description

Try all possible methods in `download.file()` (e.g., `libcurl`, `curl`, `wget`, and `wininet`) and see if any method can succeed. The reason to enumerate all methods is that sometimes the default method does not work, e.g., https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-devel/2016-June/072852.html.

### Usage

    download_file(
      url,
      output = url_filename(url),
      ...,
      .error = "No download method works (auto/wininet/wget/curl/lynx)"
    )

### Arguments

`url` | The URL of the file.
`output` | Path to the output file. By default, it is determined by `url_filename()`.
`...` | Other arguments to be passed to `download.file()` (except `method`).
`.error` | An error message to signal when the download fails.

### Value

The integer code `0` for success, or an error if none of the methods work.

### Note

To allow downloading large files, the `timeout` option in `options()` will be temporarily set to one hour (3600 seconds) inside this function when this option has the default value of 60 seconds. If you want a different `timeout` value, you may set it via `options(timeout = N)`, where `N` is the number of seconds (not 60).

[Package xfun version 0.29 Index]