SPSS problem

February 4, 2013 9:47 AM

I just bought SPSS for my macbook and I can't make it find my syntax file. Why?

This PDF says I have to edit the file handle and tell it where the file is on my computer. I have followed these directions exactly, but it simply tells me "File not found"*:

file handle pcdat/name='statdoc.dat' /lrecl=20.
data list file="C:\Macintosh HD\Users\dgaicun\Desktop\statdoc\statdoc.dat"/.

Really, that's as far as my troubleshooting can go. That's what I was supposed to write and it doesn't work.

* More specifically:
>Error # 31 in column 16.  Text: C:\Macintosh HD\Users\dgaicun\Desktop\statdoc\statdoc.dat
>File not found.
>Execution of this command stops.

posted by dgaicun to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

Best answer: I know nothing at all about SPSS, but "C:\" is a Windows/DOS-style file path. So unless SPSS is expecting that and translating it to the right format, I doubt it's going to work.

Try "/Users/dgaicun/Desktop/statdoc/statdoc.dat"
posted by primethyme at 10:04 AM on February 4, 2013

That's a Windows-specific path. Try "/Users/dgaicun/Desktop/statdoc/statdoc.dat" instead. (err, what primethyme said)
posted by zsazsa at 10:05 AM on February 4, 2013

In the example, 'statdoc.dat' is the data file itself (is there a file with that name in that location?), and the file shown in the window is the data definition file which reads the .dat file column by column. The two are typically separate.
posted by lathrop at 10:05 AM on February 4, 2013

Response by poster: Alright thanks. Everything I read just assumes that you're working on a PC; not even a footnote for the Mac users.

So now I've opened the file and it tells me "The first word in the line is not recognized as an SPSS Statistics command." And "There are no variables defined in the above transformations that a procedure may access."

In other words it doesn't recognize anything in the document. But I know other people with PCs who have opened these same files in SPSS without a problem. So I'm just going to assume I wasted money buying SPSS for a mac.
posted by dgaicun at 10:21 AM on February 4, 2013

I've used SPSS on a Mac for years.

I have never tried to (nor needed to) edit a data definition file in this way. Why are you using this PDF? It's not clear to me what you are trying to do. Open an existing dataset?

The syntax files have an .spv extension.
posted by pantarei70 at 10:50 AM on February 4, 2013

Response by poster: I'm sending a MeMail to pantarei70 right now.

If any other seasoned Mac/SPSS users are curious about my dumb problems here, feel free to shoot me a message over MeFi Mail, and I will give you the details.
posted by dgaicun at 11:31 AM on February 4, 2013

I'm sure Mac SPSS works fine, and it's a matter of learning how the files work together. Regardless of their file extensions, you may want to inspect files directly in a text editor to verify their contents (i.e. which is a raw data file, and its format, and which is a command file that reads and labels your data). SPSS has such editors within it.

Mac is not my primary platform so I will bow out...
posted by lathrop at 12:59 PM on February 4, 2013