[R] assignment of inidividual variables from spss save files

[Peter Dalgaard]

Mike Day <mike_liz.day at tiscali.co.uk> writes:

> New to R, can't afford SPSS!
> 
> Why can't I assign spss variables? Here are the details.
> 
>  > ### I've read in my collaborator's sav file using read.spss, eg
>  > children = read.spss(filename)
>  > ### It has many variables
>  > length(children)
> [1] 347
>  > ### and I would like to assign individual variables.
>  > ### I can of course type out all the ones I want, eg
>  > ADULTS11<-children[18]
>  > ### But I'm lazy, so tried:
>  > (function (x,n){assign(names(x[n]),x[n])})(children,2)
>  > ### where
>  > names(children[2])
> [1] "ADNUTS06"
>  > ### but
>  > ADNUTS06
> Error: Object "ADNUTS06" not found
>  > ### I've tried lots of variations, including creating and
>  > ### evaluating statements such as "ADNUTS06<-children[2]",
>  > ### but without apparently yielding the required variable.
> 
> I expect the answer will be "You shouldn’t start from here!"
> Ideas welcome.

Right. Instead, read up on the attach() function and with(). Read
through "An Introduction to R" (manual, comes with R) and pay
particular attention to chapter 6(.3). Beware the tricky bits
relating to the search path and masking of variables.

-- 
   O__  ---- Peter Dalgaard             Øster Farimagsgade 5, Entr.B
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