[R] Converting ddf/dct/sas data definition file to R

Frank E Harrell Jr
Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:01:30 -0000

The sas.get function in the Hmisc package, or the sasxport.get function,
will do what you want by a different approach.

Frank

Stephan Lindner wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> I was wondering whether anyone knows about a program which converts
> (part of) a data definition file (such as a .dct file for stata, or
> .sas file for sas) into an R-script.
>
> Here is an example with a .sas file:
>
> <-- snipp
>
> VALUE HTYPE   	(default=32)
> 	0         =  "Not in household"
> 	1         =  "Married couple family household"
> 	2         =  "Male householder family"
> 	3         =  "Female householder family"
> 	4         =  "Male householder nonfamily"
> 	5         =  "Female householder nonfamily"
> 	6         =  "Group quarters"
> ;
>
> snapp -->
>
>
> This entry defines the variable HTYPE as a factor and assigns levels
> and labels. Ideally, it would be transformed into the following entry
> in R:
>
>
> data.frame$HTYPE <- factor(data.frame$HTYPE,
> 	levels=c(0,1,2,3,4,5,6),
> 	labels=c("Not in household",
> 		 "Married couple family household",
> 		 "Male householder family",
> 		 "Female householder family",
> 		 "Male householder nonfamily",
> 		 "Female householder nonfamily",
> 		 "Group quarters"
>                 )
> 	)
>
>
> Of course, this can be done by hand and isn't too bad with a good text
> editor. The reason why I am looking for a program is because I have a
> bunch of datasets (about 100) and there are about 200 variables defined
> per dataset. My goal is to provide R-scripts for these datasets such
> that the data files can be read in with R, making them accessible for
> R users.
>
>
>
> Thanks!
>
>
> 	Stephan
>
>
>
>
>
>


--
Frank E Harrell Jr   Professor and Chair           School of Medicine
                      Department of Biostatistics   Vanderbilt University