1EXTRACT_METADATA(1)         General Commands Manual        EXTRACT_METADATA(1)
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NAME

6       extract_metadata  -  read  column  metadata  from SPSS and Stata binary
7       files, and format it as JSON
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SYNOPSIS

10       extract_metadata input-file output-file
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DESCRIPTION

13       extract_metadata reads column metadata from existing binary data files,
14       so  that  readstat can produce new, column-compatible binary files from
15       CSV input files. Both programs use JSON as a metadata interchange  for‐
16       mat.
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18       The input-file should be a file with one of the following extensions:
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20       dta    Stata binary file, version 104 or newer
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22       sav    SPSS uncompressed binary file
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24       zsav   SPSS compressed binary file
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26       In all cases, output-file should end in .json.
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EXAMPLE

29       Suppose you have a Stata file with last year's survey data, and want to
30       produce a compatible Stata file containing  this  year's  survey  data.
31       First, extract the metadata:
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33              extract_metadata last-year.dta survey-metadata.json
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35       Now apply it to this year's data, which is stored in a CSV file:
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37              readstat this-year.csv metadata.json this-year.dta
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39       The  first line of the CSV file should contain column names which match
40       the column names in last-year.dta. If everything went  well,  your  new
41       binary data set is now stored in this-year.dta.
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OPTIONS

44       None.
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AUTHOR

47       Copyright (C) 2012-2019 Evan Miller, and others where indicated.
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51                               01 February 2019            EXTRACT_METADATA(1)