Printing directory trees with printtree

Basic Usage

Print the tree for current working directory

tmp <- tempdir()
demo <- file.path(tmp, "printtree-demo")

# Start fresh

if (dir.exists(demo)) unlink(demo, recursive = TRUE, force = TRUE)

dir.create(demo, recursive = TRUE)
dir.create(file.path(demo, "R"))
dir.create(file.path(demo, "data", "raw"), recursive = TRUE)

file.create(file.path(demo, "R", "hello.R"))
#> [1] TRUE
file.create(file.path(demo, "README.md"))
#> [1] TRUE
file.create(file.path(demo, ".Rhistory"))
#> [1] TRUE

Print the tree

print_rtree()
#> printtree/
#> |-- doc/
#> |   |-- printtree.html
#> |   |-- printtree.R
#> |   `-- printtree.Rmd
#> |-- docs/
#> |   |-- articles/
#> |   |   |-- index.html
#> |   |   |-- printtree.html
#> |   |   |-- tree-dark.png
#> |   |   `-- tree-white.png
#> |   |-- deps/
#> |   |   |-- bootstrap-5.3.1/
#> |   |   |   |-- bootstrap.bundle.min.js
#> |   |   |   |-- bootstrap.bundle.min.js.map
#> |   |   |   `-- bootstrap.min.css
#> |   |   |-- bootstrap-toc-1.0.1/
#> |   |   |   `-- bootstrap-toc.min.js
#> |   |   |-- clipboard.js-2.0.11/
#> |   |   |   `-- clipboard.min.js
#> |   |   |-- font-awesome-6.5.2/
#> |   |   |   |-- css/
#> |   |   |   |   |-- all.css
#> |   |   |   |   |-- all.min.css
#> |   |   |   |   |-- v4-shims.css
#> |   |   |   |   `-- v4-shims.min.css
#> |   |   |   `-- webfonts/
#> |   |   |       |-- fa-brands-400.ttf
#> |   |   |       |-- fa-brands-400.woff2
#> |   |   |       |-- fa-regular-400.ttf
#> |   |   |       |-- fa-regular-400.woff2
#> |   |   |       |-- fa-solid-900.ttf
#> |   |   |       |-- fa-solid-900.woff2
#> |   |   |       |-- fa-v4compatibility.ttf
#> |   |   |       `-- fa-v4compatibility.woff2
#> |   |   |-- headroom-0.11.0/
#> |   |   |   |-- headroom.min.js
#> |   |   |   `-- jQuery.headroom.min.js
#> |   |   |-- jquery-3.6.0/
#> |   |   |   |-- jquery-3.6.0.js
#> |   |   |   |-- jquery-3.6.0.min.js
#> |   |   |   `-- jquery-3.6.0.min.map
#> |   |   |-- search-1.0.0/
#> |   |   |   |-- autocomplete.jquery.min.js
#> |   |   |   |-- fuse.min.js
#> |   |   |   `-- mark.min.js
#> |   |   `-- data-deps.txt
#> |   |-- news/
#> |   |   `-- index.html
#> |   |-- reference/
#> |   |   |-- figures/
#> |   |   |   |-- favicon.ico
#> |   |   |   |-- favicon.png
#> |   |   |   `-- new_tree.png
#> |   |   |-- index.html
#> |   |   `-- print_rtree.html
#> |   |-- tutorials/
#> |   |-- 404.html
#> |   |-- authors.html
#> |   |-- index.html
#> |   |-- katex-auto.js
#> |   |-- LICENSE-text.html
#> |   |-- LICENSE.html
#> |   |-- lightswitch.js
#> |   |-- link.svg
#> |   |-- pkgdown.js
#> |   |-- pkgdown.yml
#> |   |-- search.json
#> |   `-- sitemap.xml
#> |-- inst/
#> |   `-- WORDLIST
#> |-- man/
#> |   |-- figures/
#> |   |   |-- favicon.ico
#> |   |   |-- favicon.png
#> |   |   `-- new_tree.png
#> |   `-- print_rtree.Rd
#> |-- Meta/
#> |   `-- vignette.rds
#> |-- R/
#> |   |-- print_rtree.R
#> |   |-- utils-path.R
#> |   `-- utils-snapshot.R
#> |-- tests/
#> |   |-- testthat/
#> |   |   `-- test-print_rtree.R
#> |   |-- spelling.R
#> |   `-- testthat.R
#> |-- vignettes/
#> |   |-- printtree.R
#> |   |-- printtree.Rmd
#> |   |-- tree-dark.png
#> |   |-- tree-white.png
#> |   `-- tree.png
#> |-- _pkgdown.yml
#> |-- cran-comments.md
#> |-- CRAN-SUBMISSION
#> |-- DESCRIPTION
#> |-- LICENSE
#> |-- LICENSE.md
#> |-- NAMESPACE
#> |-- NEWS.md
#> |-- printtree.Rproj
#> `-- README.md

Project root detection

When project = “root”, printtree can walk upward from the provided path to detect a project root using simple markers. By default this includes:

.Rproj files (RStudio / Posit projects)
DESCRIPTION files (R package roots)

In this example, we mark demo as a package-like root by creating a DESCRIPTION file, then print from a subdirectory:

file.create(file.path(demo, "DESCRIPTION"))
#> [1] TRUE
subdir <- file.path(demo, "data", "raw")
print_rtree(subdir, project = "root")
#> printtree-demo/
#> |-- data/
#> |   `-- raw/
#> |-- R/
#> |   `-- hello.R
#> |-- DESCRIPTION
#> `-- README.md

You can customize detection using rootmarkers:

print_rtree(subdir,
project = "root",
root_markers = c(".Rproj", "DESCRIPTION", "_quarto.yml"))
#> printtree-demo/
#> |-- data/
#> |   `-- raw/
#> |-- R/
#> |   `-- hello.R
#> |-- DESCRIPTION
#> `-- README.md

Common Options

Limit depth:

print_rtree(max_depth = 2)
#> printtree/
#> |-- doc/
#> |   |-- printtree.html
#> |   |-- printtree.R
#> |   `-- printtree.Rmd
#> |-- docs/
#> |   |-- articles/
#> |   |-- deps/
#> |   |-- news/
#> |   |-- reference/
#> |   |-- tutorials/
#> |   |-- 404.html
#> |   |-- authors.html
#> |   |-- index.html
#> |   |-- katex-auto.js
#> |   |-- LICENSE-text.html
#> |   |-- LICENSE.html
#> |   |-- lightswitch.js
#> |   |-- link.svg
#> |   |-- pkgdown.js
#> |   |-- pkgdown.yml
#> |   |-- search.json
#> |   `-- sitemap.xml
#> |-- inst/
#> |   `-- WORDLIST
#> |-- man/
#> |   |-- figures/
#> |   `-- print_rtree.Rd
#> |-- Meta/
#> |   `-- vignette.rds
#> |-- R/
#> |   |-- print_rtree.R
#> |   |-- utils-path.R
#> |   `-- utils-snapshot.R
#> |-- tests/
#> |   |-- testthat/
#> |   |-- spelling.R
#> |   `-- testthat.R
#> |-- vignettes/
#> |   |-- printtree.R
#> |   |-- printtree.Rmd
#> |   |-- tree-dark.png
#> |   |-- tree-white.png
#> |   `-- tree.png
#> |-- _pkgdown.yml
#> |-- cran-comments.md
#> |-- CRAN-SUBMISSION
#> |-- DESCRIPTION
#> |-- LICENSE
#> |-- LICENSE.md
#> |-- NAMESPACE
#> |-- NEWS.md
#> |-- printtree.Rproj
#> `-- README.md

Show hidden files:

print_rtree(demo, show_hidden = TRUE, max_depth = 2)
#> printtree-demo/
#> |-- data/
#> |   `-- raw/
#> |-- R/
#> |   `-- hello.R
#> |-- DESCRIPTION
#> `-- README.md

Use unicode tree glyphs (if your terminal supports them):

print_rtree(demo, format = "unicode", max_depth = 2)
#> printtree-demo/
#> ├── data/
#> │   └── raw/
#> ├── R/
#> │   └── hello.R
#> ├── DESCRIPTION
#> └── README.md

Generate a PNG snapshot:

# Save PNG snapshots 
png_light <- tempfile("tree-light-", fileext = ".png")
png_dark  <- tempfile("tree-dark-",  fileext = ".png")

# Light (white bg, black text)
print_rtree(demo, snapshot = TRUE, snapshot_bg = "white", snapshot_file = png_light)
#> printtree-demo/
#> |-- data/
#> |   `-- raw/
#> |-- R/
#> |   `-- hello.R
#> |-- DESCRIPTION
#> `-- README.md

# Dark (black bg, white text)
print_rtree(demo, snapshot = TRUE, snapshot_bg = "black", snapshot_file = png_dark)
#> printtree-demo/
#> |-- data/
#> |   `-- raw/
#> |-- R/
#> |   `-- hello.R
#> |-- DESCRIPTION
#> `-- README.md