[R] How to read only ten rows from a SAS dataset (read.ssd)?

[David Winsemius]

On Oct 19, 2010, at 6:47 AM, johannes rara wrote:

> I'm trying to read SAS datasets on Windows:
>
> sashome <- "C:/Program Files/SAS/SAS 9.1"
> fold <- "C:/temp"
> g <- read.ssd(fold, "sasfile", sascmd = file.path(sashome, "sas.exe"))

And this was successful?

>
> How to get only e.g first ten rows into R?

Presumably you also entered require(foreign) if you had success.  
Looking at the help page, we see no parameter that would effect such a  
result. So just type:

read.ssd

You see that this function's code is available and if you know SAS,  
you should be able to insert the needed line that would limit the  
dataset length to only ten lines. I'm not being coy. I would probably  
had further suggestions 20 years ago when I was using SAS.

There is a function sas.get in package Hmisc that offers more  
extensive control, but it is not clear to me on looking at the  
parameters whether your particular request would be easily  
accommodated. The ifs= parameter would appear to be the most promising  
candidate to me. It appears that these file formats are accepted:
sasds.suffix <- c("sd2", "sd7", "ssd01", "ssd02", "ssd03",
         "ssd04", "sas7bdat")


Also, since the use of read.ssd implies that you have a working copy  
of SAS, then another option is simply exporting a file in the format  
of your choice? The SAS XPT format seems to be well handled by  
external programs.


-- 
David.
>
> -J
>
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David Winsemius, MD
West Hartford, CT