Introduction to data input and output

You will learn how to import, inspect and export tabular data, and preserve R objects in files.

Before you start: selecting table columns; project folders and relative paths.
Setup: Keep input files in Data/ and practice outputs in Output/, relative to your project root.
Your check: Choose import/export checks before using a table for analysis. Practise in the unit summary.

At the end of this unit, you should be able to

• recognize tabular data and choose separators, decimal marks and headers for a CSV import,
• import a table, inspect its column types and missing values, and export it again,
• save and restore an R object with RDS files,
• follow an import workflow with the supplied official land-use data, and
• describe how a loop can repeat a file operation across an input folder.

Use the object and indexing skills from Units 02–04 and the working directories and paths from Unit 05. The final batch-processing lesson previews a for-loop from Unit 07; you can return to it after that unit.

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