[R] sas.get under Linux

[Frank E Harrell Jr]

Adrian Dusa wrote:
> 
> 
> Dear Frank,
> 
> I understand. Never used SAS before, so I don't have it installed anywhere.
> 
> StatTransfer is a very useful tool indeed, but maybe I don't know how to 
> use it properly.
> 
> What I have is a "mydata.sas7bdat" file, along with a "formats.sas7bcat" 
> file.
> 
> I specified reading SAS value labels "Read directly from a catalog 
> file", but nothing appears in the output, neither in the R workspace nor 
> in an intermediate SPSS file.
> 
> I also tried exporting to a SAS portable file to import directly in R, 
> but there is probably something obvious that I miss because value labels 
> are not there, whatever I do...
> 
> Thanks for your help,
> 
> Adrian

Stat/Transfer has a menu option to read the SAS format catalog but I 
haven't tried it.

Frank

> 
> On Saturday 31 January 2009, Frank E Harrell Jr wrote:
> 
>  > Adrian Dusa wrote:
> 
>  > > Dear all,
> 
>  > >
> 
>  > > I am trying to import a SAS file into R (in fact I only need the value
> 
>  > > labels from the formats file), using Hmisc package, but I get this 
> error:
> 
>  > >
> 
>  > > my.sas <- sas.get("/home/adi/3", "fis1_sgg")
> 
>  > > sh: sas: not found
> 
>  > > Error in sas.get("/home/adi/3", "fis1_sgg") :
> 
>  > > SAS job failed with status 32512
> 
>  > >
> 
>  > > I read some past discussions and I get the impression that sas.get()
> 
>  > > needs the full path to the SAS executable, but I don't have that 
> because
> 
>  > > I am using Linux.
> 
>  > >
> 
>  > > Is it possible to use sas.get() without having SAS installed?
> 
>  >
> 
>  > Since sas.get is trying to execute sas the answer is a definite no
> 
>  > unless you use the sas.get option to run SAS on another machine to
> 
>  > produce the input ASCII files needed by sas.get. Also investigate
> 
>  > sasxport.get if you have SAS version 5 transport files to import.
> 
>  > See also http://biostat.mc.vanderbilt.edu/SASexportHowto
> 
>  >
> 
>  > As SAS never got it right in allowing for full metadata to be included
> 
>  > in a SAS dataset, you often have to run PROC FORMAT CNTLOUT=... to
> 
>  > convert format libraries to SAS datasets so that programs such as
> 
>  > sasxport.get can assign value labels [if you have SAS installed, sas.get
> 
>  > runs PROC CONTENTS for you.]. SPSS and Stata have always been ahead of
> 
>  > SAS in this regard.
> 
>  >
> 
>  > Note that the excellent Stat/Transfer commercial product will convert
> 
>  > from almost any SAS dataset format to compact R binary objects,
> 
>  > including variable labels the way the Hmisc package handles them. If
> 
>  > you have another way to convert from SAS to Stata or SPSS, R is great at
> 
>  > readying those formats.
> 
>  >
> 
>  > Frank
> 
>  >
> 
>  > > Or alternatively, is there another function to import the formats 
> into R?
> 
>  > >
> 
>  > > Thanks in advance for any hint,
> 
>  > > Adrian
> 
> -- 
> 
> Adrian Dusa
> 
> Romanian Social Data Archive
> 
> 1, Schitu Magureanu Bd.
> 
> 050025 Bucharest sector 5
> 
> Romania
> 
> Tel.:+40 21 3126618 \
> 
> +40 21 3120210 / int.101
> 
> Fax: +40 21 3158391
> 


-- 
Frank E Harrell Jr   Professor and Chair           School of Medicine
                      Department of Biostatistics   Vanderbilt University