Converting .Rd file to plain text

Question

I'm trying to convert R documentation files (extension .Rd) into plain text. I am aware that RdUtils contains a tool called Rdconv, but as far as I know it can only be used from the command line. Is there a way to access Rdconv (or a similar conversion tool) from within an R session?

Answer 1

You may always invoke a system command e.g. with the system2 function:

input <- '~/Projekty/stringi/man/stri_length.Rd'
output <- '/tmp/out.txt'
system2('R', paste('CMD Rdconv -t txt', filename, '-o', output))
readLines(output)
## [1] "Count the Number of Characters"
## ...

Make sure that R is in your system's search path. If not, replace the first argument of system2() above with full path, e.g. C:\Program Files\R\3.1\bin\R.exe.

Answer 2

Try

tools::Rd2txt("path/to/file.Rd")