Get Normalized Configuration File Path of a Program

config_file returns the absolute, normalized path to the configuration file of a program/package/app based on an optional app-specific commandline argument, an optional app-specific environment variable and the XDG Base Directory Specification

Usage

config_file(
  app_name,
  file_name,
  cl_arg = commandArgs()[grep("--config-file", commandArgs()) + 1],
  env_var = "",
  sep = "/",
  copy_dir = norm_path(xdg_config_home(), app_name),
  fallback_path = NULL
)

Arguments

app_name

Name of the program/package/app

file_name

Name of the configuration file

cl_arg

Value of app specific commandline parameter

env_var

Value of app specific environment variable

sep

Path separator to be used on Windows

copy_dir

Path to directory where $fallback_path should be copied to in case it gets used.

fallback_path

Value to return as fallback (see details)

Value

Normalized path to the configuration file of $app_name.

Details

The following algorithm is used to determine the location of $file_name:

1. If $cl_arg is a non-empty string, return it

2. Else, if $env_var is a non-empty string, return it

3. Else, if $PWD/.config/$app_name exists, return it

4. Else, if $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/$app_name/$file_name exists, return it

5. Else, if $HOME/.config/$app_name/$file_name exists, return it

6. Else, if $USERPROFILE/.config/$app_name/$file_name exists, return it

7. Else, if $copy_dir is non-empty string and $fallback_path is a path to an existing file, then try to copy $fallback_path to copy_dir/$file_name and return copy_dir/$file_name (Note, that in case $copy_dir is a non-valid path, the function will throw an error.)

8. Else, return $fallback_path

See also

config_dir(), xdg_config_home()

Examples

config_dir("myApp")
#> [1] "/home/runner/.config/myApp"