R help - Jun 2005 - assignment of inidividual variables from spss save files

New to R, can't afford SPSS!

Why can't I assign spss variables? Here are the details.

 > ### I've read in my collaborator's sav file using read.spss, eg
 > children = read.spss(filename)
 > ### It has many variables
 > length(children)
[1] 347
 > ### and I would like to assign individual variables.
 > ### I can of course type out all the ones I want, eg
 > ADULTS11<-children[18]
 > ### But I'm lazy, so tried:
 > (function (x,n){assign(names(x[n]),x[n])})(children,2)
 > ### where
 > names(children[2])
[1] "ADNUTS06"
 > ### but
 > ADNUTS06
Error: Object "ADNUTS06" not found
 > ### I've tried lots of variations, including creating and
 > ### evaluating statements such as "ADNUTS06<-children[2]",
 > ### but without apparently yielding the required variable.

I expect the answer will be "You shouldn?t start from here!"
Ideas welcome.

Thanks, Mike

Mike Day <mike_liz.day at tiscali.co.uk> writes:
> New to R, can't afford SPSS!
> 
> Why can't I assign spss variables? Here are the details.
> 
>  > ### I've read in my collaborator's sav file using read.spss,
eg
>  > children = read.spss(filename)
>  > ### It has many variables
>  > length(children)
> [1] 347
>  > ### and I would like to assign individual variables.
>  > ### I can of course type out all the ones I want, eg
>  > ADULTS11<-children[18]
>  > ### But I'm lazy, so tried:
>  > (function (x,n){assign(names(x[n]),x[n])})(children,2)
>  > ### where
>  > names(children[2])
> [1] "ADNUTS06"
>  > ### but
>  > ADNUTS06
> Error: Object "ADNUTS06" not found
>  > ### I've tried lots of variations, including creating and
>  > ### evaluating statements such as
"ADNUTS06<-children[2]",
>  > ### but without apparently yielding the required variable.
> 
> I expect the answer will be "You shouldn?t start from here!"
> Ideas welcome.
Right. Instead, read up on the attach() function and with(). Read
through "An Introduction to R" (manual, comes with R) and pay
particular attention to chapter 6(.3). Beware the tricky bits
relating to the search path and masking of variables.

-- 
   O__  ---- Peter Dalgaard             ??ster Farimagsgade 5, Entr.B
  c/ /'_ --- Dept. of Biostatistics     PO Box 2099, 1014 Cph. K
 (*) \(*) -- University of Copenhagen   Denmark          Ph: (+45) 35327918
~~~~~~~~~~ - (p.dalgaard at biostat.ku.dk)                  FAX: (+45) 35327907

Le 13.06.2005 09:22, Mike Day a 侀crit :
>New to R, can't afford SPSS!
>
>Why can't I assign spss variables? Here are the details.
>
> > ### I've read in my collaborator's sav file using read.spss,
eg
> > children = read.spss(filename)
> > ### It has many variables
> > length(children)
>[1] 347
> > ### and I would like to assign individual variables.
> > ### I can of course type out all the ones I want, eg
> > ADULTS11<-children[18]
> > ### But I'm lazy, so tried:
> > (function (x,n){assign(names(x[n]),x[n])})(children,2)
> > ### where
> > names(children[2])
>[1] "ADNUTS06"
> > ### but
> > ADNUTS06
>Error: Object "ADNUTS06" not found
> > ### I've tried lots of variations, including creating and
> > ### evaluating statements such as
"ADNUTS06<-children[2]",
> > ### but without apparently yielding the required variable.
>
>I expect the answer will be "You shouldn抰 start from here!"
>Ideas welcome.
>
>Thanks, Mike
>  
>
?attach may be what you are looking for


-- 
visit the R Graph Gallery : http://addictedtor.free.fr/graphiques
~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~      Romain FRANCOIS - http://addictedtor.free.fr         ~~~~~~
~~~~        Etudiant  ISUP - CS3 - Industrie et Services           ~~~~
~~                http://www.isup.cicrp.jussieu.fr/                  ~~
~~~~           Stagiaire INRIA Futurs - Equipe SELECT              ~~~~
~~~~~~   http://www.inria.fr/recherche/equipes/select.fr.html    ~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~

The key to solving your problem is that read.spss per default
gives you a *list* and not a *dataframe* (can anyone explain this
choice of default?).

So most likely wou want:

children = read.spss(filename,to.data.frame=TRUE)
attach(children)

or to get things a little more handy:

children <- read.spss(filename,to.data.frame=TRUE)
names(children) <- tolower( names( children ) )
attach(children)

best,
Bendix
----------------------
Bendix Carstensen
Senior Statistician
Steno Diabetes Center
Niels Steensens Vej 2
DK-2820 Gentofte
Denmark
tel: +45 44 43 87 38
mob: +45 30 75 87 38
fax: +45 44 43 07 06
bxc at steno.dk
www.biostat.ku.dk/~bxc
----------------------


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Romain Francois [mailto:francoisromain at free.fr] 
> Sent: Monday, June 13, 2005 9:48 AM
> To: Mike Day; RHELP
> Subject: Re: [R] assignment of inidividual variables from 
> spss save files
> 
> 
> Le 13.06.2005 09:22, Mike Day a ??crit :
> 
> >New to R, can't afford SPSS!
> >
> >Why can't I assign spss variables? Here are the details.
> >
> > > ### I've read in my collaborator's sav file using
read.spss, eg
> > > children = read.spss(filename) ### It has many variables
> > > length(children)
> >[1] 347
> > > ### and I would like to assign individual variables.
> > > ### I can of course type out all the ones I want, eg 
> > > ADULTS11<-children[18] ### But I'm lazy, so tried:
> > > (function (x,n){assign(names(x[n]),x[n])})(children,2)
> > > ### where
> > > names(children[2])
> >[1] "ADNUTS06"
> > > ### but
> > > ADNUTS06
> >Error: Object "ADNUTS06" not found
> > > ### I've tried lots of variations, including creating and ###
> > > evaluating statements such as
"ADNUTS06<-children[2]", ### but
> > > without apparently yielding the required variable.
> >
> >I expect the answer will be "You shouldn't start from
here!" Ideas
> >welcome.
> >
> >Thanks, Mike
> >  
> >
> ?attach may be what you are looking for
> 
> 
> -- 
> visit the R Graph Gallery : http://addictedtor.free.fr/graphiques
> ~~~~~~~~ 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~
> ~~~~~~      Romain FRANCOIS - http://addictedtor.free.fr      
>    ~~~~~~
> ~~~~        Etudiant  ISUP - CS3 - Industrie et Services      
>      ~~~~
> ~~                http://www.isup.cicrp.jussieu.fr/           
>        ~~
> ~~~~           Stagiaire INRIA Futurs - Equipe SELECT         
>      ~~~~
> ~~~~~~   http://www.inria.fr/recherche/equipes/select.fr.html 
>    ~~~~~~
> ~~~~~~~~ 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~
> 
> 
>