Open Access .mdb Files with RODBC


Getting data into R can be done by reading colon separated files (.csv) via the read.table() function. It is also possible to access databases directly and send SQL queries directly from R to the database. This has some advantages: Using Sweave the queries get documented in the analysis report, variable formats are retained.

To install the RODBC package:
install.packages("RODBC")

Open a database connection to an Microsoft Access database file, e.g. “MyDataBase.mdb” sitting in the Folder “C:\ MyPath\MyDataBase.mdb”:
channel <- odbcConnectAccess("C:/MyPath/MyDataBase")
note that the Windows backslashes “\” become slashes “/” in R and the extension “.mdb” is omitted.

Getting the database table “MyTable” into the R dataframe “R.Table”
R.Table <- sqlQuery( channel , paste ("select * from MyTable"))
MyTable can also be a sql query in the Access database.

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