Date:         Tue, 18 Nov 1997 01:03:06 -0700
Reply-To:     Terry Taerum <Terry.Taerum@UALBERTA.CA>
Sender:       "SPSSX(r) Discussion" <SPSSX-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From:         Terry Taerum <Terry.Taerum@UALBERTA.CA>
Organization: Taerum Research
Subject:      Re: export file -- weired

mail wrote in message <971117.163121.CST.MWANG@ua1vm.ua.edu>...
>Today I ran a spss on mainframe cms platform to export
>a file.  After downloading to a pc and ran pc/spss using
>import procedure, I got an error message saying something
>like ".. prematured end ..."
 
The SPSS portable file has either been truncated or characters
towards the end of the file have been corrupted.
 
By way of explanation, SPSS portable files consist of records which are
80 characters in length.  The last line of the file ends with a series of
'ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ's (or equivalent thereof).  SPSS uses the
last run of characters to determine if the portable file has been truncated.
 
Truncation can occur if the you run out of memory on the
mainframe or the job aborted before completion.