Converting Files with pspp convert

The pspp convert command reads a file and writes it to another, usually in a different format. The basic syntax is:

pspp convert <INPUT> [OUTPUT]

which reads <INPUT> and writes a copy of it to [OUTPUT], or to the terminal if [OUTPUT] is omitted.

pspp convert can convert following kinds of files:

• Data files:

  When <INPUT> is an SPSS system file or portable file or an SPSS/PC+ system file, then [OUTPUT] can be a data file format. The currently supported data file formats are:

  • Comma-separated value (CSV) files
  • SPSS system files
  • SPSS portable files

  If [OUTPUT] is omitted, the default is to write the data to stdout in CSV format.

• Viewer files:

  When <INPUT> is an SPSS viewer (SPV) file, then [OUTPUT] may be any PSPP output format, including:

  • plain text
  • PDF
  • HTML

  If [OUTPUT] is omitted, the default is to write the viewer file to stdout in plain text format.

Options

pspp convert accepts the following options:

• -e <ENCODING>
--encoding=<ENCODING>
  Sets the character encoding used to read text strings in the input file. This is not needed for new enough SPSS data files, but older data files do not identify their encoding, and PSPP cannot always guess correctly.

  <ENCODING> must be one of the labels for encodings in the Encoding Standard. PSPP does not support UTF-16 or EBCDIC encodings in data files.

  pspp show encodings can help figure out the correct encoding for a system file.

• --unicode
  For input from a system file, converts from the file's encoding to Unicode (UTF-8) encoding before writing the output. If the input was not already in Unicode, then this causes string variables to be tripled in width.

• -c <MAX_CASES>
--cases=<MAX_CASES>
  By default, all cases in the input are copied to the output. Specify this option to limit the number of copied cases.

• -p <PASSWORD>
--password=<PASSWORD>
  Specifies the password for reading an encrypted SPSS system file.

  In addition to file encryption, SPSS supports a feature called "password encryption". The password specified can be specified with or without "password encryption".

  pspp convert reads, but does not write, encrypted system files.

  ⚠️ The password (and other command-line options) may be visible to other users on multiuser systems.

• -o <OUTPUT_OPTIONS>
  Adds <OUTPUT_OPTIONS> to the output engine configuration. See Output Drivers for information on how to configure output.

  If no output driver is specified, the default output format is chosen based on [OUTPUT]'s extension. If [OUTPUT] is omitted, output is written to stdout, either in CSV format if <INPUT> is a data file, or in plain text format if <INPUT> is an SPV file.