Restore files from backups

restore_files() copies files from a backup location back to their original paths, overwriting the current versions. By default, it creates a new backup of the current files before overwriting, so the restore itself can be undone.

restore_files_interactive() works the same way but shows a side-by-side diff (powered by diffobj::diffFile()) for each file before asking whether to restore it. This is useful when you want to review the difference between the current version of the file and its backup.

The typical workflow is to call list_backups() or last_backup() to find the backup you want, then pass the backup and original columns to restore_files():

b <- last_backup()
restore_files(from = b$backup, to = b$original)

Usage

restore_files(
  from,
  to,
  ...,
  backup = TRUE,
  description = NA_character_,
  backup_dir = seekr_option("seekr.backup_dir"),
  .progress = seekr_option("seekr.progress")
)

restore_files_interactive(
  from,
  to,
  ...,
  backup = TRUE,
  description = NA_character_,
  backup_dir = seekr_option("seekr.backup_dir"),
  .progress = seekr_option("seekr.progress")
)

Arguments

from

Character vector of source file paths to copy from. Typically the backup column of list_backups() or last_backup(). All files must exist.

to

Character vector of destination file paths to copy to. Typically the original column of list_backups() or last_backup(). Must be the same length as from, with no duplicates. Destination files do not need to exist.

...

For restore_files(): these dots are for future extensions and must be empty.

For restore_files_interactive(): additional arguments passed to diffobj::diffFile(), allowing you to customize the diff display. For example, mode = "unified" switches to a unified diff format.

backup

Whether to create a backup of the current files before overwriting the files. Default is TRUE. Set to FALSE to skip the backup, for example if the files are already tracked by another version control system.

description

Optional character string stored in the backup metadata when backup = TRUE. Use it to describe why the backup was created. Defaults to NA.

backup_dir

Path to the backup directory. Defaults to seekr_option("seekr.backup_dir"), which resolves to a platform-specific user data directory. Change the default globally with options(seekr.backup_dir = "/your/path").

.progress

Whether to display progress messages. Default is TRUE in interactive sessions and FALSE otherwise (see rlang::is_interactive()). Can be set globally with options(seekr.progress = FALSE).

Value

Both functions invisibly return the to paths of the files that were actually restored. For restore_files() this is always the full to vector. For restore_files_interactive() this is only the subset of files the user chose to restore, an empty character vector if the user cancelled or skipped all files.

Interactive restore

restore_files_interactive() iterates over each file and shows a diff between the backup (from) and the current version (to). For each file, it prompts with the following choices:

Restore this file: restore this file and move to the next.
Ignore this file: skip this file and move to the next.
Restore all remaining files: restore this file and all subsequent ones without further prompts.
Ignore all remaining files: skip this file and all subsequent ones.
Cancel all planned changes: abort immediately without restoring anything, including files already confirmed in this session.

No files are modified until after the last prompt. All choices are collected first, then applied in a single restore_files() call.

restore_files_interactive() requires the diffobj package. It can only be called in an interactive session.

Examples

# Set up a temporary project with two files
project_dir <- tempfile("seekr_project")
dir.create(project_dir)

backup_dir <- tempfile("seekr_backups")
dir.create(backup_dir)

file1 <- file.path(project_dir, "script1.R")
file2 <- file.path(project_dir, "script2.R")
writeLines("old_name <- function(x) x + 1", file1)
writeLines("y <- old_name(2)", file2)

# Search for the pattern we want to replace
x <- seekr("old_name", replacement = "new_name", path = project_dir)
x
#> <seekr::match[2]> 2 sources
#> Common Path: /tmp/RtmppsESWb/seekr_project19f5612f7ad7
#> 
#> script1.R [1]
#> [1] -- 1 | old_name <- function(x) x + 1
#>     ++ 1 | new_name <- function(x) x + 1
#> 
#> script2.R [1]
#> [2] -- 1 | y <- old_name(2)
#>     ++ 1 | y <- new_name(2)
#> 

# No backup exists yet
list_backups(backup_dir = backup_dir)
#> # A tibble: 0 × 9
#> # ℹ 9 variables: id <int>, created_at <dttm>, operation <chr>,
#> #   description <chr>, original <chr>, backup <chr>, original_exists <lgl>,
#> #   backup_exists <lgl>, size <fs::bytes>

# Apply the replacement; a backup is created automatically
replace_files(x, backup_dir = backup_dir)

# The backup now contains the original (pre-replacement) version
# of both files, under id = 1
list_backups(backup_dir = backup_dir)
#> # A tibble: 2 × 9
#>      id created_at          operation description original                backup
#>   <int> <dttm>              <chr>     <chr>       <chr>                   <chr> 
#> 1     1 2026-07-11 20:15:06 replace   NA          /tmp/RtmppsESWb/seekr_… /tmp/…
#> 2     1 2026-07-11 20:15:06 replace   NA          /tmp/RtmppsESWb/seekr_… /tmp/…
#> # ℹ 3 more variables: original_exists <lgl>, backup_exists <lgl>,
#> #   size <fs::bytes>

# The files on disk have changed
readLines(file1)
#> [1] "new_name <- function(x) x + 1"
readLines(file2)
#> [1] "y <- new_name(2)"

# Searching for the original pattern no longer finds anything
seekr("old_name", path = project_dir)
#> <seekr::match[0]> 0 sources

# Restore the files from the backup; this itself creates a second
# backup (id = 2) of the current (replaced) version, before overwriting
b <- last_backup(backup_dir = backup_dir)
restore_files(from = b$backup, to = b$original, backup_dir = backup_dir)
#> ℹ Creating a backup of the current version of each existing destination file
#>   before restoring it.
#> ℹ This ensures you can revert to the state before restoration if needed.

# We now have two backups: id = 1 is the state before replace_files(),
# id = 2 is the state before restore_files() (i.e. the replaced version)
list_backups(backup_dir = backup_dir)
#> # A tibble: 4 × 9
#>      id created_at          operation description original                backup
#>   <int> <dttm>              <chr>     <chr>       <chr>                   <chr> 
#> 1     2 2026-07-11 20:15:06 restore   NA          /tmp/RtmppsESWb/seekr_… /tmp/…
#> 2     2 2026-07-11 20:15:06 restore   NA          /tmp/RtmppsESWb/seekr_… /tmp/…
#> 3     1 2026-07-11 20:15:06 replace   NA          /tmp/RtmppsESWb/seekr_… /tmp/…
#> 4     1 2026-07-11 20:15:06 replace   NA          /tmp/RtmppsESWb/seekr_… /tmp/…
#> # ℹ 3 more variables: original_exists <lgl>, backup_exists <lgl>,
#> #   size <fs::bytes>

# The files are back to their original content
readLines(file1)
#> [1] "old_name <- function(x) x + 1"
readLines(file2)
#> [1] "y <- old_name(2)"

# The original pattern is found again
seekr("old_name", path = project_dir)
#> <seekr::match[2]> 2 sources
#> Common Path: /tmp/RtmppsESWb/seekr_project19f5612f7ad7
#> 
#> script1.R [1]
#> [1] -> 1 | old_name <- function(x) x + 1
#> 
#> script2.R [1]
#> [2] -> 1 | y <- old_name(2)
#> 

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
# open_backup_dir() opens a file browser, so it is not run here
open_backup_dir()

# Review each file interactively before restoring
restore_files_interactive(from = b$backup, to = b$original)

# Customize the diff display (unified format)
restore_files_interactive(
  from = b$backup,
  to = b$original,
  mode = "unified",
  color.mode = "yb"
)

# Finally, particular backups in a backup_dir can be deleted
b <- list_backups(backup_dir = backup_dir)
b
delete_backups(id = b$id, backup_dir = backup_dir)
} # }


unlink(project_dir, recursive = TRUE)
unlink(backup_dir, recursive = TRUE)

Usage

Arguments

Value

Interactive restore

See also

Examples