Gloria Edwards (gsedward@HAMLET.UNCG.EDU) wrote:

: /* To read in SPSS for Windows, use the "get sas" command in the syntax window : and specify the appropriate directory and file name. For example,

: GET SAS DATA="c:\temp\newport.dat".

: After reading the file into the SPSS Data Editor, you will be able to save the : data as an SPSS for Windows (*.sav) file and open it directly in SPSS.

-- If I read the foregoing note correctly, then the GET SAS procedure in SPSS is only useful for reading "Portable" files from SAS. And there is no possibility of reading a SAS binary data-base file.

Is that correct? (I suppose that would explain why a SAS-convert test did not work, and it is not just a problem with the exact Version number in SAS that wrote the .SSD file.)

And: What is available in SPSS as procedures that will read binary databases? Will someone say a few words about ODBC, Open Data Base Connectivity, and what is practical and available? -- I've got a friend who is about to be given 8 gigabytes worth of SAS files, and it would be nice to know what he should do with them to avoid using SAS any more than he has to - Just once, to translate the files, might be okay. Keeping TWO copies of the new data does seem unlikely, for the size considerations.

Rich Ulrich, wpilib+@pitt.edu