pspp-convert - convert SPSS data files to other formats
pspp-convert [options] input output
pspp-convert --help | -h
pspp-convert --version | -v
The pspp-convert program reads input, which may be
an SPSS system file, an SPSS/PC+ system file, an SPSS portable file, or an
encrypted SPSS syntax file, and writes it to output, performing
format conversion as necessary.
The format of input is automatically detected, when
possible. The character encoding of old SPSS system files cannot always be
guessed correctly, and SPSS/PC+ system files do not include any indication
of their encoding. Use -e encoding to specify the encoding in
this case.
By default, the intended format for output is inferred from
its extension:
- csv
-
- txt
- Comma-separated value. Each value is formatted according to its variable's
print format. The first line in the file contains variable names.
- sav
-
- sys
- SPSS system file.
- por
- SPSS portable file.
- sps
- SPSS syntax file. (Only encrypted syntax files may be converted to this
format.)
Use -O extension to override the inferred format or
to specify the format for unrecognized extensions.
pspp-convert can convert most input formats to most output
formats. Encrypted SPSS file formats are exceptions: if the input file is in
an encrypted format, then the output file will be the same format
(decrypted). Options for the output format are ignored in this case.
- -O format
-
- --output-format=format
- Specifies the desired output format. format must be one of the
extensions listed above, e.g. -O csv requests comma-separated value
output.
- -c maxcases
-
- --cases=maxcases
- By default, all cases are copied from input to output.
Specifying this option to limit the number of cases written to
output to maxcases.
- -e charset
-
- --encoding=charset
- Overrides the encoding in which character strings in input are
interpreted. This option is necessary because old SPSS system files do not
self-identify their encoding.
- -k var...
-
- --keep=var...
- Drops all variables except those listed as var, and reorders the
remaining variables into the specified order.
- -d var...
-
- --drop=var...
- Drops each var listed from the output.
These options affect only output to .csv and .txt
files.
- --labels
- By default, pspp-convert writes variables' values to the output.
With this option, pspp-convert writes value labels.
- --no-var-names
- By default, pspp-convert writes the variable names as the first line of
output. With this option, pspp-convert omits this line.
- --recode
- By default, pspp-convert writes user-missing values as their
regular values. With this option, pspp-convert recodes them to
system-missing values (which are written as a single space).
- --print-formats
- By default, pspp-convert writes numeric variables as plain numbers.
This option makes pspp-convert honor variables' print formats.
- --decimal=decimal
- This option sets the character used as a decimal point in output. The
default is a period (.).
- --delimiter=delimiter
- This option sets the character used to separate fields in output. The
default is a comma (,), unless the decimal point is a comma, in
which case a semicolon (;) is used.
- --qualifier=qualifier
- The option sets the character used to quote fields that contain the
delimiter. The default is a double quote (").
When the input file is encrypted, pspp-convert needs to
obtain a password to decrypt it. To do so, the user may specify the password
with -p (or --password), or the name of a file containing a
list of possible passwords with --password-list, or an alphabet of
possible passwords to try along with a maximum length with -a (or
--password-alphabet) and -l (or --password-length). If none of
these options is used, pspp-convert prompts for the password. The
password options are:
- -p password
-
- --password=password
- Specifies the password to use to decrypt the input file.
- On multiuser systems, this option may not be safe because other users may
be able to see the password in process listings.
- -a alphabet -l
max-length
-
- --password-alphabet=alphabet --password-length=max-length
- These options are an alternative to -p or --password. They
direct pspp-convert to search for the correct password from the set
of all passwords of symbols from alphabet (which may contain
character ranges specified with -) and no more than
max-length symbols long. For example, -a a-z -l 5 checks all
possible lowercase alphabetic passwords no more than 5 characters
long.
- When these options are used, -p may additionally specify a starting
point for the search.
- --password-list=file
- Specifies a file to read containing a list of passwords to try, one per
line. If file is -, reads from stdin.
- -h
-
- --help
- Prints a usage message on stdout and exits.
- -v
-
- --version
- Prints version information on stdout and exits.