make_sps_setup: Create an SPSS setup file (.sps) to use for reading in...

In asciiSetupReader: Reads Fixed-Width ASCII Data Files (.txt or .dat) that Have Accompanying Setup Files (.sps or .sas)

Create an SPSS setup file (.sps) to use for reading in fixed-width text files

Description

make_sps_setup() is used to create the setup file used in reading in fixed-width text files. Often the setup file comes with the data file but in some cases (usually with government data) you will need to create the setup file yourself.

Usage

make_sps_setup(
  file_name,
  col_positions,
  col_names = NULL,
  col_labels = NULL,
  value_labels = NULL,
  missing_values = NULL
)

Arguments

file_name	Name (or path) of the file to be saved (e.g. "setup_file1"). The .sps extension is added if it isn't already there.
col_positions	Either a vector of strings indicating the start and end position of each column (e.g. "1-3", "4-5") or a vector of the widths of the columns (e.g. 3, 2).
col_names	A vector of names for the columns. If none are provided, will automatically create names based on column number (e.g. V1, V2, V3).
col_labels	A vector of labels for the columns. These are often longer and more descriptive than the col_names. These are the values used as column names if use_clean_names = TRUE in read_ascii_setup.
value_labels	A vector with the value first, then an ' = ' then the label. Each new column should have the column name (or label) followed by ' ='.
missing_values	A vector of strings with the column name or label followed by the values to be replaced by NA, e.g. c("var1", "9", "-8", "var2", "-8").

Value

NULL, invisibly. Called to write the .sps file.

Examples

value_labels <- c("var1 = ",
                  "1 = label 1",
                  "2 = label 2",
                  "3 = label 3",
                  "4 = label 4",
                  "5 = label 5",
                  "var3 = ",
                  "1A = alpha",
                  "1B = bravo",
                  "1C = cat")
missing_values <- c("state name", "9", "-8", "county", "-8")
file_name <- file.path(tempdir(), "example_name")
make_sps_setup(file_name      = file_name,
               col_positions  = c(1, 3, 4, 2),
               col_names      = c("var1", "var2", "var3", "var4"),
               col_labels     = c("state name", "county",
                                  "population", "census region code"),
               value_labels   = value_labels,
               missing_values = missing_values)

# The new setup file can be used with parse_setup() and read_ascii_setup()
parse_setup(paste0(file_name, ".sps"))

asciiSetupReader documentation built on Oct. 17, 2026, 5:07 p.m.