R: Read Epi Info Data Files

read.epiinfo {foreign} | R Documentation

## Read Epi Info Data Files

### Description

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.

### Usage

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

### Arguments

`file` | A filename, URL, or connection.
`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?

### Details

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.

### Value

A data frame.

### Note

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.

### References

http://www.cdc.gov/epiinfo/, http://www.epidata.dk

### See Also

DateTimeClasses

### Examples

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

[Package foreign version 0.8-29 Index]