read.csv.better() and file to test it on

read.csv.better.R

+# A wrapper function for read.csv that uses perl to convert any possible spaces to a single type and then reads the CSV with
+# any other arguments to read.csv that you want to input.
+
+# Example output where file_path refers to a CSV containing a single string with lots of different types of spaces, in this repo.
+
+# Bad:
+# read.csv("spcs.csv", header = FALSE)
+#   V1
+# 1 X           â\u0081Ÿã€€X
+
+# Better:
+# read.csv.better(file_path, header = FALSE)
+#   V1
+# 1 X             X
+
+read.csv.better <- function(file_path, ...) {
+  read.csv_args <- list(...)
+  txt <- system2("perl", args = paste("-CSDA -plE \"s/\\s/ /g\"", file_path), stdout = TRUE)
+  conn <- textConnection(txt) 
+  do.call(read.csv, args = c(list(file = conn), read.csv_args))
+}

spcs.csv

+X            　X