Importing Excel file using url using read.xls

Question

I\'m trying to use read.xls from gdata to import an Excel file directly into R. I\'m on a Windows machine running 64 bit R.

I have checked my PATH variable for perl

Answer 1

@G.G is correct that read.xls does not support https. However, if you simply replace the https with http in the url you should be able to download the file.

Give this a try:

require(RCurl)
require(gdata)
url <- "http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27644144/NADAC%2020140101.xls"
test <- read.xls(url)

Answer 2

read.xls supports http and ftp but does not support https. Download it first and then use read.xls with the downloaded file.