R Script - How to Continue Code Execution on Error

Question

I have written an R script which includes a loop that retrieves external (web) data. The format of the data are most of the time the same, however sometimes the format changes in an unpredictable way and my loop is crashing (stops running).

Is there a way to continue code execution regardless the error? I am looking for something similar to "On error Resume Next" from VBA.

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

Use try or tryCatch.

for(i in something)
{
  res <- try(expression_to_get_data)
  if(inherits(res, "try-error"))
  {
    #error handling code, maybe just skip this iteration using
    next
  }
  #rest of iteration for case of no error
}

---

The modern way to do this uses purrr::possibly.

First, write a function that gets your data, get_data().

Then modify the function to return a default value in the case of an error.

get_data2 <- possibly(get_data, otherwise = NA)

Now call the modified function in the loop.

for(i in something) {
  res <- get_data2(i)
}