rapache-arrowfeather

How to read column names and metadata from feather files in R arrow?


The (now-superseded) stand-alone feather library for R had a function called feather_metadata() that allowed to read column names and types from feather files on disk, without opening them. This was useful to select only specific columns when loading a feather file in R with read_feather(path, columns = c(...))

Now that the feather format is part of the arrow library, feather_metadata() is not included anymore.

Is there an equivalent function in arrow to read column names and types of files on disk from R before loading them?


Solution

  • In the current version of the arrow R package, there is no direct replacement for feather::feather_metadata(path), but there are two workarounds that might work for you: