Inspecting SPSS Viewer Files

The pspp show-spv command reads SPSS Viewer (SPV) files, which usually have .sav extension, and produces a report. The basic syntax is:

pspp show-spv <MODE> <INPUT> [OUTPUT]

where <MODE> is a mode of operation (see below) and <INPUT> is the SPV file to read, and [OUTPUT] is the output file name. If [OUTPUT] is omitted, output is written to the terminal.

The following <MODE>s are accepted:

  • dir: Outputs a table of contents for the SPV file, listing every selected object, which by default is every object except for hidden ones.

    The following additional option for dir is intended mainly for use by PSPP developers:

    • --member-names: Also show the names of the ZIP file members associated with each object.

  • get-table-look: Extracts the TableLook from the first table in the selected objects and outputs it in TableLook XML format. The output file should have an .stt extension.

    Use - for <INPUT> to instead write the default TableLook.

  • convert-table-look: Reads an .stt or .tlo TableLook file as <INPUT> and outputs it in TableLook XML format. The output file should have an .stt extension.

    This is useful for converting a TableLook .tlo file from SPSS 15 or earlier into the newer .stt format.

Input Selection Options

Commands that read an SPV file operate, by default, on all of the objects in the file, except for objects that are not visible in the output viewer window. The user may specify these options to select a subset of the input objects. When multiple options are used, only objects that satisfy all of them are selected:

  • --select=[^]CLASS...
    Include only objects of the given CLASS; with leading ^, include only objects not in the class. Use commas to separate multiple classes. The supported classes are:

    • charts
    • headings
    • logs
    • models
    • tables
    • texts
    • trees
    • warnings
    • outlineheaders
    • pagetitle
    • notes
    • unknown
    • other

  • --commands=[^]COMMAND...
    --subtypes=[^]SUBTYPE...
    --labels=[^]LABEL...
    Include only objects with the specified COMMAND, SUBTYPE, or LABEL. With a leading ^, include only the objects that do not match. Multiple values may be specified separated by commas. An asterisk at the end of a value acts as a wildcard.

    The --command option matches command identifiers, case insensitively. All of the objects produced by a single command use the same, unique command identifier. Command identifiers are always in English regardless of the language used for output. They often differ from the command name in PSPP syntax. Use the pspp-output program's dir command to print command identifiers in particular output.

    The --subtypes option matches particular tables within a command, case insensitively. Subtypes are not necessarily unique: two commands that produce similar output tables may use the same subtype. Only tables have subtypes, so specifying --subtypes will exclude other kinds of objects. Subtypes are always in English and dir will print them.

    The --labels option matches the labels in table output (that is, the table titles). Labels are affected by the output language, variable names and labels, split file settings, and other factors.

  • --nth-commands=N...
    Include only objects from the Nth command that matches --command (or the Nth command overall if --command is not specified), where N is 1 for the first command, 2 for the second, and so on.

  • --instances=INSTANCE...
    Include the specified INSTANCE of an object that matches the other criteria within a single command. INSTANCE may be a number (1 for the first instance, 2 for the second, and so on) or last for the last instance.

  • --show-hidden
    Include hidden output objects in the output. By default, they are excluded.

  • --or
    Separates two sets of selection options. Objects selected by either set of options are included in the output.

The following additional input selection options are intended mainly for use by PSPP developers:

  • --errors
    Include only objects that cause an error when read. With the convert command, this is most useful in conjunction with the --force option.

  • --members=MEMBER...
    Include only the objects that include a listed Zip file MEMBER. More than one name may be included, comma-separated. The members in an SPV file may be listed with the dir command by adding the --show-members option or with the zipinfo program included with many operating systems. Error messages that pspp-output prints when it reads SPV files also often include member names.