pspp-convert(1) PSPP Manual pspp-convert(1)
NAME
pspp-convert - convert SPSS data files to other formats
SYNOPSIS
pspp-convert [options] input output
pspp-convert --help | -h
pspp-convert --version | -v
DESCRIPTION
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 exten-
sion:
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 for-
mat 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 (de-
crypted). Options for the output format are ignored in this case.
OPTIONS
General Options
-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. Specify-
ing 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.
CSV Output Options
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 num-
bers. This option makes pspp-convert honor variables' print
formats.
--decimal=decimal
This option sets the character used as a decimal point in out-
put. The default is a period (.).
--delimiter=delimiter
This option sets the character used to separate fields in out-
put. 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 (").
Password Options
When the input file is encrypted, pspp-convert needs to obtain a pass-
word 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 di-
rect 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 low-
ercase 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.
Other Options
-h
--help Prints a usage message on stdout and exits.
-v
--version
Prints version information on stdout and exits.
AUTHORS
Ben Pfaff.
SEE ALSO
pspp-output(1), pspp(1), psppire(1).
PSPP October 2013 pspp-convert(1)
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