SPSS File I/O

SPSS is capable of handling most file formats, including proprietary ones. But only god can help you if you use characters outside ANSI ASCII.

Contents

  1. SPSS File I/O
    1. Excel
    2. CSV
    3. Tab-Delimited
    4. Fixed-width
    5. Stata

Excel

To import from an Excel spreadsheet: 

get data
  /type=xlsx
  /file="path/to/file"
  /sheet=name "Sheet1"
  /cellrange=full
  /readnames=on
  /assumedstrwidth=32767.

To export into an Excel spreadsheet: 

save translate
  /outfile="path/to/file"
  /type=xlsx
  /version=12
  /map
  /replace
  /fieldnames
  /cells=values
  /keep=VARLIST.

It is not possible to export into an existing spreadsheet and add a sheet.

CSV

To import from a CSV file: 

get data
  /type=txt
  /file="path/to/file"
  /delimiters=","
  /firstcase=1
  /importcase=all
  /variables=
  VAR1 A1
  VAR2 F2.

For an explanation on the syntax used on the /variables subcommand, see here.

To export into a CSV file: 

save translate
  /outfile="path/to/file"
  /type=csv
  /map
  /replace
  /fieldnames
  /cells=values
  /keep=VARLIST.

Tab-Delimited

To import from a tab-delimited file: 

get data
  /type=txt
  /file="path/to/file"
  /delimiters="\t"
  /firstcase=1
  /importcase=all
  /variables=
  VAR1 A1
  VAR2 F2.

For an explanation on the syntax used on the /variables subcommand, see here.

To export into a tab-delimited file: 

save translate
  /outfile="path/to/file"
  /type=tab
  /map
  /replace
  /fieldnames
  /cells=values
  /keep=VARLIST.

Fixed-width

To import from a fixed-width file: 

get data
  /type=txt
  /file="path/to/file"
  /arrangement=fixed
  /fixcase=1
  /firstcase=1
  /importcase=all
  /variables=
  /1
  VAR1 0-2 A
  VAR2 3-5 F.

It is necessary to declare all variables, their widths, and their types on import. If the file has column headers, update the /firstcase subcommand.

To export into a fixed-width file: 

write outfile="path/to/file"
  /1 VARLIST.

Stata

Note that inter-operability of Stata and SPSS is locked to specific versions. SPSS 22 is inter-operable with Stata 8 only.

There must also be considerations for metadata loss--Stata 8 has very low limits on variable and value labels.

To import from a Stata file: 

get stata file="path/to/file".

To export into a Stata 8 SE file: 

save translate
  /outfile="path/to/file"
  /type=stata
  /version=8
  /edition=se
  /map
  /replace
  /keep=VARLIST.

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