A barely tested R script that takes a backgammon match in any format gnubg can read, analyzes the match and returns a data frame with the analysis

analyze_gnubg.R

# A barely tested R script that takes a backgammon match in any format 
# gnubg can read, analyzes the match and returns a data frame with the analysis
# It requires that gnubg is readily available on the command line.

library(tidyverse)
library(jsonlite)
library(glue)

analyze_bg_match <- function(match_fname, match_format = "auto") {
  gnubg_analysis_fname = tempfile()
  python_analyze_match <- glue(trim("
    import json
    import gnubg
    import sys

    gnubg.command('import {match_format} \"{match_fname}\"')
    gnubg.command('analyze match')
    match = gnubg.match()

    outfile = open('{gnubg_analysis_fname}', 'w')
    json.dump(match, outfile)
    #json.dump(match, outfile, sort_keys=True, indent=4, separators=(',', ': '))
    outfile.close()

    gnubg.command('show analysis')"))
  temp_python_code_fname = tempfile()
  write_file(python_analyze_match, temp_python_code_fname)
  gnubg_stdout <- system2("gnubg", glue('-t -q --python="{temp_python_code_fname}"'), stdout = TRUE)
  gnubg_stdout <- paste(gnubg_stdout, collapse = "\n")
  match <- fromJSON(gnubg_analysis_fname, simplifyMatrix = FALSE, simplifyVector = TRUE, simplifyDataFrame = TRUE, flatten = TRUE)
  match$gnubg_stdout <- gnubg_stdout 
  match
}

# Example usage:
path_to_bg_match_file <- "Razz - XG-Champion 5 point match Jun 26 2018.txt"
match <- analyze_bg_match(path_to_bg_match_file)
# match is now a deeply nested list with all the analysis from gnubg