Fix R Error: ‘\U’ used without hex digits in character string starting “”C:\U”
In this post, I’ll explain how to handle the error message ‘U’ used without hex digits in character string starting “”C:U” in Windows in the R programming language.
The tutorial contains two examples for the handling of this error. To be more precise, the content is structured as follows:
Let’s start right away…
Example 1: Reproduce the Error: ‘\U’ used without hex digits in character string starting “”C:\U”
This example shows how to replicate the error message ‘U’ used without hex digits in character string starting “”C:U” when using the Microsoft Windows operating system.
Let’s assume that we want to change our currently used working directory in R by using the setwd function. Then, we might try to copy and paste the path of this working directory as character string into the setwd function:
setwd("C:\Users\Joach\Desktop") # Trying to set working directory # Error: '\U' used without hex digits in character string starting ""C:\U"
As you can see, the error message ‘U’ used without hex digits in character string starting “”C:U” war returned to the RStudio console.
What happened and how can we solve this problem?
Example 2: Fix the Error: ‘\U’ used without hex digits in character string starting “”C:\U”
Example 2 explains how to fix the error message ‘U’ used without hex digits in character string starting “”C:U”.
If you are using Microsoft Windows as operating system, you need to replace the backslash in file paths with a normal slash. Compare the following R code with the R code of Example 1:
setwd("C:/Users/Joach/Desktop") # Exchange backslash with slash
Works perfectly fine!
Video, Further Resources & Summary
Do you need more explanations on the R programming code of this article? Then you may watch the following video of my YouTube channel. I’m explaining the R syntax of this article in the video.
Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.
If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.
Additionally, you might have a look at the related posts of this homepage:
At this point you should have learned how to solve the error ‘U’ used without hex digits in character string starting “”C:U” in the R programming language. In case you have additional questions, let me know in the comments below.
2 Comments. Leave new
Hi, I need you help mate. Im proper stuck with the following error code, even after following your tip above
setwd(‘C:\Users\gmora\OneDrive\Desktop\Rassignement’)
Error: ‘\U’ used without hex digits in character string starting “‘C:\U”
> setwd(‘C:/Users/gmora/OneDrive/Desktop/Rassignement’)
Error in setwd(“C:/Users/gmora/OneDrive/Desktop/Rassignement”) :
cannot change working directory
Hey George,
You already improved your code by using slashes instead of backslashes in your path.
Now, you are getting another error message than before (i.e. “cannot change working directory”). I have also written a tutorial about this error that you can find here: https://statisticsglobe.com/r-error-in-setwd-cannot-change-working-directory
I hope that helps!
Joachim