risks of using setwd() in a script?

Question

I\'ve heard it said that it is bad practice to use setwd() in a script.

• What are the risks/dangers associated with it?
• What are bett

Answer 1

Though problems with setwd() have been targeted, I would like to add one more to the what are the alternatives part of the question. We often work with git where the relative path is very convenient

setrelwd <- function(rel_path){
  curr_dir <- getwd()
  abs_path <- file.path(curr_dir,rel_path)
  if(dir.exists(abs_path)){
    setwd(abs_path)
  }
  else
  {
    warning('Directory does not exist. Please create it first.')
  }

}

> setrelwd("Summer2016")
Warning message:
In setrelwd("Summer2016") : Directory does not exist. Please create it first.

Also if you don't want to see the warning message but create a folder right away see Check existence of directory and create if doesn't exist