read.epiinfo             package:foreign             R Documentation

_R_e_a_d _E_p_i _I_n_f_o _D_a_t_a _F_i_l_e_s

_D_e_s_c_r_i_p_t_i_o_n:

     Reads data files in the '.REC' format used by Epi Info versions 6
     and earlier and by EpiData.  Epi Info is a public domain database
     and statistics package produced by the US Centers for Disease
     Control and EpiData is a freely available data entry and
     validation system.

_U_s_a_g_e:

     read.epiinfo(file, read.deleted = FALSE, guess.broken.dates = FALSE,
                  thisyear = NULL, lower.case.names = FALSE)

_A_r_g_u_m_e_n_t_s:

    file: A filename, URL, or connnection.

read.deleted: Deleted records are read if 'TRUE', omitted if 'FALSE' or
          replaced with 'NA' if 'NA'.

guess.broken.dates: Attempt to convert dates with 0 or 2 digit year
          information (see Details below).

thisyear: A 4-digit year to use for dates with no year. Defaults to the
          current year.

lower.case.names: Convert variable names to lowercase?

_D_e_t_a_i_l_s:

     Epi Info allows dates to be specified with no year or with a 2 or
     4 digits.  Dates with four-digit years are always converted to
     'Date' class.  With the 'guess.broken.dates' option the function
     will attempt to convert two-digit years using the operating
     system's default method (see Date) and will use the current year
     or the 'thisyear' argument for dates with no year information.

     If 'read.deleted' is 'TRUE' the '"deleted"' attribute of the data
     frame indicates the deleted records.

_V_a_l_u_e:

     A data frame.

_N_o_t_e:

     Epi Info 2000, the current version, uses the Microsoft Access file
     format to store data. This may be readable with the 'RODBC' or
     'RDCOM' packages.

_R_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e_s:

     <URL: http://www.cdc.gov/epiinfo/>, <URL: http://www.epidata.dk>

_S_e_e _A_l_s_o:

     DateTimeClasses

_E_x_a_m_p_l_e_s:

     ## Not run: 
     data<-read.epiinfo("oswego.rec",guess.broken.dates=TRUE,thisyear="1972")
     ## End(Not run)

