Is there a linux-based/free command line tool for converting dbf files into txt? Conceptually, it is not a great way of doing things. We have a dbf file with a well defined structure. We convert it into a text file, which has a loose structure, undefined variables types etc. And then we read the text file. I should be much better to directly read a dbf file and use its database structure definition to ensure that data come into R correctly.
RODBC route does not seem suitable for my needs. I need to read some 300 files, and combine all the data. Using ODBC would mean that I would have to set up 300 DSNs in the odbc.ini.
Or is there a way to set it up from the command line as well? I suppose it must be possible to write a script that will suitably modify odbc.ini file. But that sounds far too complicated.
I have been a user of SAS for a long time. This exercise would be done in a flash there. I wish there was a simple way of doing it in R.
Don't we have a simple command that will read a dbf file, or in fact, a set of commands that will read common file formats. I see that we can read SAS, STATA and SPSS files. Somebody would have thought of doing the same for dbf. Isn't it?
Vikas
Vikas
Vito Ricci wrote:
Hi,
read the manual: R Data Import/Export
http://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/R-data.pdf
Another way is to convert .dbf file in .txt and use read.table(), scan() an similar.
Best Vito
You wrote:
I run R on redhat linux. What would be the easiest way to read dbf files into R?
Vikas
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