9.8 SAVE TRANSLATE

SAVE TRANSLATE
        /OUTFILE={’file_name’,file_handle}
        /TYPE={CSV,TAB}
        [/REPLACE]
        [/MISSING={IGNORE,RECODE}]

        [/DROP=var_list]
        [/KEEP=var_list]
        [/RENAME=(src_names=target_names)…]
        [/UNSELECTED={RETAIN,DELETE}]
        [/MAP]

        …additional subcommands depending on TYPE…

The SAVE TRANSLATE command is used to save data into various formats understood by other applications.

The OUTFILE and TYPE subcommands are mandatory. OUTFILE specifies the file to be written, as a string file name or a file handle (see File Handles). TYPE determines the type of the file or source to read. It must be one of the following:

CSV

Comma-separated value format,

TAB

Tab-delimited format.

By default, SAVE TRANSLATE does not overwrite an existing file. Use REPLACE to force an existing file to be overwritten.

With MISSING=IGNORE, the default, SAVE TRANSLATE treats user-missing values as if they were not missing. Specify MISSING=RECODE to output numeric user-missing values like system-missing values and string user-missing values as all spaces.

By default, all the variables in the active dataset dictionary are saved to the system file, but DROP or KEEP can select a subset of variable to save. The RENAME subcommand can also be used to change the names under which variables are saved; because they are used only in the output, these names do not have to conform to the usual PSPP variable naming rules. UNSELECTED determines whether cases filtered out by the FILTER command are written to the output file. These subcommands have the same syntax and meaning as on the SAVE command (see SAVE).

Each supported file type has additional subcommands, explained in separate sections below.

SAVE TRANSLATE causes the data to be read. It is a procedure.

• Writing Comma- and Tab-Separated Data Files