Import multiline SQL query to single string

Question

In R, how can I import the contents of a multiline text file (containing SQL) to a single string?

The sql.txt file looks like this:

SELECT TOP 100 
         


        

Answer 1

The versatile paste() command can do that with argument collapse="":

lines <- readLines("/tmp/sql.txt")
lines
[1] "SELECT TOP 100 " " setpoint, "     " tph "           "FROM rates"     

sqlcmd <- paste(lines, collapse="")
sqlcmd
[1] "SELECT TOP 100  setpoint,  tph FROM rates"