Working with multiple RCDF files

There are two common scenarios when working with multiple RCDF files:

1. Load several files into R at once — useful when you want to analyse data from multiple files side by side. Tables with the same name are stacked automatically.
2. Merge files into a new RCDF file — useful when you want to permanently combine files and share or archive the result as a single encrypted file.

---

Scenario 1 — Load multiple files into R

Pass a character vector of file paths (or a folder path) to read_rcdf(). Provide matching vectors of keys and passwords if the files were encrypted with different keys:

data <- read_rcdf(
  path = c(
    "path/to/file/01.rcdf",
    "path/to/file/02.rcdf",
    "path/to/file/03.rcdf"
  ),
  decryption_key = c(
    "keys/01-private-key.pem",
    "keys/02-private-key.pem",
    "keys/03-private-key.pem"
  ),
  password = c(
    "password01",
    "password02",
    "password03"
  )
)

Requirements for stacking to work: - Each RCDF file must contain tables with the same names and column structure. - Passwords must correspond positionally to their decryption keys.

---

Scenario 2 — Merge files into a new RCDF file

merge_rcdf() reads multiple RCDF files, stacks their tables, and saves the result as a brand-new encrypted RCDF file. This is handy for creating an archive or distributing a combined dataset to collaborators:

merge_rcdf(
  rcdf_files = c(
    "path/to/file/01.rcdf",
    "path/to/file/02.rcdf",
    "path/to/file/03.rcdf"
  ),
  decryption_key = c(
    "keys/01-private-key.pem",
    "keys/02-private-key.pem",
    "keys/03-private-key.pem"
  ),
  password = c(
    "password01",
    "password02",
    "password03"
  ),
  merged_file_path = "path/to/merged.rcdf"
)

The merged file is encrypted with its own key, which you supply via the pub_key argument (see ?merge_rcdf for all options).

---

For more on reading single files and exporting data, see vignette("rcdf").