extract_metadata - Man Page
read column metadata from SPSS and Stata binary files, and format it as JSON
Synopsis
extract_metadata input-file output-file
Description
extract_metadata reads column metadata from existing binary data files, so that readstat can produce new, column-compatible binary files from CSV input files. Both programs use JSON as a metadata interchange format.
The input-file should be a file with one of the following extensions:
- dta
Stata binary file, version 104 or newer
- sav
SPSS uncompressed binary file
- zsav
SPSS compressed binary file
In all cases, output-file should end in .json.
Example
Suppose you have a Stata file with last year's survey data, and want to produce a compatible Stata file containing this year's survey data. First, extract the metadata:
extract_metadata last-year.dta survey-metadata.json
Now apply it to this year's data, which is stored in a CSV file:
readstat this-year.csv metadata.json this-year.dta
The first line of the CSV file should contain column names which match the column names in last-year.dta. If everything went well, your new binary data set is now stored in this-year.dta.
Options
None.
Author
Copyright (C) 2012-2019 Evan Miller, and others where indicated.