[Sergio Rivaroli]

Nick Cox , I execute the code using a do-file editor

- macro list - reports what below:

. macro list
save:           C:\Users\sergio.rivaroli\OneDrive - Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna\Desktop/Stata
dir:            C:\Users\sergio.rivaroli\OneDrive - Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna\Desktop
T_gm_fix_span:  0
S_level:        95
F1:             help advice;
F2:             describe;
F7:             save
F8:             use
S_ADO:          BASE;SITE;.;PERSONAL;PLUS;OLDPLACE
S_StataSE:      SE
S_OS:           Windows
S_OSDTL:        64-bit
S_MACH:         PC (64-bit x86-64)

[Kye Lippold]

I think you may be missing a set of compound double quotes, which creates issues because your paths have spaces. Where your code has

local savefile = subinstr("`f'",".sav",".dta",.)

I think it should be (note the extra ` and ' )

local savefile = subinstr(`"`f'"',".sav",".dta",.)

to ensure the double quoted filename gets passed through correctly.

As with my prior comment, running set trace on would show you what Stata is executing at each step, so you would see exactly how the savefile macro is being expanded.

[Sergio Rivaroli]

Hi Kye Lippold , I've used the following code

clear
set more off
global dir "C:\Users\sergio.rivaroli\OneDrive - Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna\Desktop"
local fls: dir "$dir" files "*.sav"
cd "$dir" 
global save "$dir/Stata"

foreach f of local fls{
cd "$dir"
import spss  `"`f'"' , clear
local savefile = subinstr(`"`f'"',".sav",".dta",.)
cd "$save"
save `"`savefile'"', replace
}

but nothing happens in the directory C:\Users\sergio.rivaroli\OneDrive - Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna\Desktop/Stata

[Sergio Rivaroli]

Dear Kye Lippold , I've run the command - set trace on - and after the command - import spss `"`f'"' , clear - , and resulted this info in red : "using required"

[Nick Cox]

This seems to be what you're trying to do. I have no reason to suppose that it will give results. But it could be important to know what the filelist is.

clear
set more off

cd "C:\Users\sergio.rivaroli\OneDrive - Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna\Desktop"
local fls: dir . files "*.sav"

di `"`fls'"'

foreach f of local fls {
     import spss  `"`f'"' , clear
     local savefile = subinstr(`"`f'"',".sav",".dta",.)
     save `"stata/`savefile'"', replace
}

[Kye Lippold]

Dear Kye Lippold , I've run the command - set trace on - and after the command - import spss `"`f'"' , clear - , and resulted this info in red : "using required"

Ah, so set trace has shown you the likely issue -- the correct syntax for import spss is

import spss using `filename', clear

so you need to include the word "using".

The exact error is a bit hidden because set trace is including a lot of extra output. If you run set tracedepth 1 first, you will see less output, including the exact "import spss" command that your code is running. That should help debug if it is some other issue.

[Nick Cox]

#21 is unfortunately wrong, at least w.r.t. Stata 17. The word using is optional. https://www.stata.com/help.cgi?import_spss

The trace shows to me that the command can't see a filename at all, and that is the problem.

[Sergio Rivaroli]

Dear Nick Cox and Kye Lippold , below the two outputs:

The file list:

and other commands:

[Nick Cox]

I suggested much simpler code in #20.

I will try some experiments later today but I don't have any .sav files to test that part. Does either of these work directly?

import spss pbma_1 

import spss "pbma_1"

[Sergio Rivaroli]

Dear Nick Cox , botw work.

[Nick Cox]

As implied, I don't use SPSS and have no .sav files to experiment with. This is the nearest analogue of your code I can think up, and it works for me.

sysuse auto, clear
export delimited using auto.csv 

sysuse bplong, clear 
export delimited using bplong.csv 

local fls : dir . files "*.csv"

di `"`fls'"'

foreach f of local fls {
     import delimited  `"`f'"' , clear
     local savefile = subinstr(`"`f'"',".csv","2.dta",.)
     save `"`savefile'"', replace
}

As mentioned twice already, your code can be simplified, and although I can't see a bug in the complicated version, I still recommend simpler code.

[Bruce Weaver]

Several SPSS datasets are available for download here:

• http://calcnet.mth.cmich.edu/org/spss/prjs_datasets.htm

[Nick Cox]

Thanks to Bruce Weaver I can replicate the problem. This works for me with files cancer.sav and disease.sav I didn't test on filenames containing spaces.

local fls : dir . files "*.sav"

di `"`fls'"'

foreach f of local fls {
     import spss  "`f'" , clear
     local savefile = subinstr(`"`f'"',".csv",".dta",.)
     save `"`savefile'"', replace
}

The line that caused problems was

 
 import delimited  `"`f'"' , clear

[Sergio Rivaroli]

Dear Nick Cox ,

Thank you very much indeed, the code runs! Yesssssss!!!

[Nick Cox]

A community effort!