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Some (usually older) data sets are only available in fixed-width ASCIIfiles (.txt or .dat) that have an .sps (SPSS) or .sas (SAS) setup fileexplaining to the software how to read that file. These filecombinations are sometimes referred to as .txt+.sps, .txt+.sas,.dat+.sps, .dat+.sas. This package allows you to read in the data if youhave both the fixed-width file and its accompanying setup file.

Toinstallthispackage,usethecodeinstall.packages("asciiSetupReader")# The development version is available on Github.# install.packages("devtools")devtools::install_github("jacobkap/asciiSetupReader")

The parametersdata andsetup_file are the only ones requires to runthe package though three optional parameters allow you to customizeresults.

data - A string containing the name of the data file

setup_file - A string containing the name of the setup file

Both files must be in your working directory or the string must containthe path to the file. Below is an example of reading in the exampledataset - the original data and setup files can be foundhere.

Please note that I am only usingsystem.file() here so the vignettebuilds in the package even not on my own computer. You will not use thisin the function. Instead you’d simply inputdata = "example_data.zip"andsetup_file = "example_setup.sps". The data file does not have tobe in a zip folder, it is only in a zip folder here to reduce the sizeof this package. In most cases it will be a .dat or a .txt file.

data<- system.file("extdata","example_data.zip",package="asciiSetupReader")setup_file<- system.file("extdata","example_setup.sps",package="asciiSetupReader")example<-asciiSetupReader::read_ascii_setup(data=data,setup_file=setup_file)example[1:6,1:4]# Look at first 6 rows and first 4 columns#>   IDENTIFIER_CODE NUMERIC_STATE_CODE ORI_CODE             GROUP#> 1 SHR master file            Alabama  AL00112 Cit 50,000-99,999#> 2 SHR master file            Alabama  AL00112 Cit 50,000-99,999#> 3 SHR master file            Alabama  AL00112 Cit 50,000-99,999#> 4 SHR master file            Arizona  AZ00189       Cit < 2,500#> 5 SHR master file            Arizona  AZ00189       Cit < 2,500#> 6 SHR master file            Arizona  AZ00189       Cit < 2,500