Mike Marchywka
2011-Jan-15 13:32 UTC
[R] getting R-readable data , not pictures, from US OTS "data" pages
Does anyone know offhand if the OTS has an FTP site or other pages off in a corner somewhere to make data downloading and integration with R easy? They have mailing lists to which you can subscribe that announce new data but then you get these things like PDF files with tables of numbers and the PR releases don't obviously have links to related csv or other data files. For example, http://www.ots.treas.gov/?p=StatisticalReleases&ContentRecord_id=1bd8494f-0909-404b-8048-1468f754537f after surfing for a few moments on their website I still didn't find any ASCII data files. Now, of course I can run pdftotext on the pdf, historically with pdf's this has been a huge accomplishment, and play games with the jumbled text for a while but I thought there may be a better approach. If there is enough demand maybe they could put a link to csv files into PR just as with the pdf file. Tabular pictures are nice but I would imagine R users would benefit if computer readable data was readily available too. Many gov sites have real data and maybe I just need more coffee. Thanks. note new address Mike Marchywka 487 Salem Woods Drive Marietta GA 30067 415-264-8477 (w)<- use this 404-788-1216 (C)<- leave message 989-348-4796 (P)<- emergency only marchywka at hotmail.com Note: If I am asking for free stuff, I normally use for hobby/non-profit information but may use in investment forums, public and private. Please indicate any concerns if applicable.