Neovim working directory follows R setwd()

[caeu]

I often find myself aligning Neovim’s working directory with the setwd() path in my R scripts, rather than the other way around. Eventually, I automated it and figured it might be useful, spark some ideas, or be something others can build on. Here’s the snippet.

        local function sync_path(notifyme)
          -- get the line number that have the function setwd()
          local pattern = [[^\s*[^#]*setwd\s*(\(['"]\)[^"']\+\(\1\)]]
          local found_line = vim.fn.search(pattern, "nw")

          if found_line < 1 then
            if notifyme then
              vim.notify("No valid setwd() found", vim.log.levels.WARN)
            end
            return
          end

          -- Extract and validate path
          local line_content = vim.fn.getline(found_line)
          local path = line_content:match([[setwd%(['"](.*)['"]%)]])
          local abs_path = vim.fn.fnamemodify(path, ":p")

          -- Set path
          if vim.fn.isdirectory(abs_path) ~= 0 then
            vim.fn.chdir(abs_path)
            if notifyme then
              vim.notify("CWD: " .. abs_path, vim.log.levels.INFO)
            end
          else
            -- always notify if the path in setwd() is invalid
            vim.notify("Invalid path: " .. abs_path, vim.log.levels.ERROR)
          end
        end
        -- Call the function when r.nvim starts
        sync_path({ notifyme = false })
        -- Keymap for the function
        vim.keymap.set("n", "<localleader>wd", function()
          sync_path({ notifyme = true })
        end, {
          desc = "Sync CWD with the found valid setwd()",
          buffer = true,
        })

[richardsc]

This is interesting, thanks for sharing! As a newcomer to neovim/R.nvim (15 years on Emacs+ESS) I must confess that I do get confused about the neovim working directory, and find it isn't always where I opened the file from.

Two thoughts:

1. Isn't the second of these two chunks redundant?

          if found_line < 1 and notifyme then
            vim.notify("No valid setwd() found", vim.log.levels.WARN)
            return
          end

          if found_line < 1 then
            if notifyme then
              vim.notify("No valid setwd() found", vim.log.levels.WARN)
            end
            return
          end

2. Over the years I have broken myself of the habit of using setwd() inside my scripts, primarily for the reason that it impacts the reproducibility (both for other users and even for myself, as I often work from a variety of different machines, including Mac, Windows, and Linux). This SO answer from Ben Bolker aligns well with my experience and practice.

It's always interesting to see others workflows, especially for tools that I am still learning (I rarely use RStudio, and I haven't quick managed to fully switch from my Emacs finger memory).

[caeu]

Not exactly, the lower one meant to replace the top one, and somehow I missed removing the old. Now fixed.

[jalvesaq]

Thansk, @caeu !

I have this in my init.lua:

vim.o.autochdir = true

I usually open a terminal, run the cd command to move to the directory where I want to work and, then, start Neovim. All paths in my R scripts are either relatives to the script itself or absolute paths. This always works for me. If I want to do some parallel work in another directory, I usually open a new tab in the terminal (kitty) and starts another Neovim instance there.

[PMassicotte]

This is the way!

[caeu]

Indeed this is the way if the intended R working directory is the same as the R script path. But I often set R working directory to either parent folder or somewhere in the neighborhood depending on the situation, and this gives me the flexibility to open R script from anywhere.

[richardsc]

vim.o.autochdir = true

I didn't know about this. Thanks!