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Importing additional data from CSV datafiles into an exisiting SPSS (.sav) file
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ECE
Sep 1, 2004, 10:16:56 AM9/1/04
to
Hi,
How do we import additional data from CSV datafiles into an existing SPSS
(.sav) file ? I mean how can we append data to an existing spss file when we
have additional data stored in CSV files ? Thanks...
--
Regards,
Adrian
Bruce Weaver
Sep 1, 2004, 10:40:34 AM9/1/04
to
ECE wrote:
How about importing the CSV files in the usual way, then using ADD FILES
to append to your SPSS data file? If you need to generate ADD FILES
syntax via the menus, look for Merge Files-->Add Cases.
--
Bruce Weaver
bwe...@lakeheadu.ca
www.angelfire.com/wv/bwhomedir
Moshe Braner
Sep 3, 2004, 9:44:34 AM9/3/04
to
I think there may be another issue in this inquiry: suppose one imports a
CSV file and then goes through it and fixes up the data types as needed,
i.e., text vs. numeric, and the length of text variables, etc., ending up
with a clean SPSS data file. Then if one wants to add additional data
from another CSV file, how to make sure it is read in with the same data
types etc? I don't know of any easy way to do that. For that reason I
avoid CSV (or other delimited) text files as data sources, if I can.
Fixed-column ASCII, along with syntax to read it in correctly, is better
in that sense, as the same syntax can be used to read more data if it
comes in the exact same format. Better yet, if your data comes from a
source that can do it, export it as a data file not a text file, so that
the fields have defined data types. The most common data file format is
"xbase", also known as dBase, with the file extension .DBF - almost any
PC-based application that handles data can import and export in this
format. Be careful with exports from Excel though: it is a spreadsheet
not a database, does not have a complete concept of data types internally,
and exporting similar data from Excel into DBF files may not result in the
exact same data types. The same may be true for other spreadsheet
programs.
CSV file and then goes through it and fixes up the data types as needed,
i.e., text vs. numeric, and the length of text variables, etc., ending up
with a clean SPSS data file. Then if one wants to add additional data
from another CSV file, how to make sure it is read in with the same data
types etc? I don't know of any easy way to do that. For that reason I
avoid CSV (or other delimited) text files as data sources, if I can.
Fixed-column ASCII, along with syntax to read it in correctly, is better
in that sense, as the same syntax can be used to read more data if it
comes in the exact same format. Better yet, if your data comes from a
source that can do it, export it as a data file not a text file, so that
the fields have defined data types. The most common data file format is
"xbase", also known as dBase, with the file extension .DBF - almost any
PC-based application that handles data can import and export in this
format. Be careful with exports from Excel though: it is a spreadsheet
not a database, does not have a complete concept of data types internally,
and exporting similar data from Excel into DBF files may not result in the
exact same data types. The same may be true for other spreadsheet
programs.
- Moshe
On Wed, 01 Sep 2004 10:40:34 -0400, Bruce Weaver <bwe...@lakeheadu.ca>
wrote:
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