Import Data Files into R
You can read/import data files into R produced by different software such as MS-Excel, Minitab, SPSS, SAS, and STATA.
Reading Excel Files
The XLConnect
package can be used to import data files into R produced in MS-Excel. First, you have to install this package.
install.packages("XLConnect")
You can check if the package is already installed using code:
any(grepl("XLConnect", installed.packages()))
If the package is installed, you need to activate the package in your workspace (using library( )
function) to load data from MS-Excel files.
Suppose, you have a data file (Hald.xlsx) stored at path "D:\STAT\STA-654\Hald.xlsx"
. To read this file the readWorksheetFromFile( )
function can be used. For example,
library(XLConnect) data <- readWorksheetFromFile("D:/stat/sta-654/Hald.xlsx", sheet=1)
Since Excel workbook can contain more than one sheet, therefore, you need to specify the sheet argument and specify which sheet you want to load into R. In this example, data from sheet 1 will be loaded.
If you want o load the whole workbook (all sheets) use the loadWorkbook( )
function to load the required worksheet as a data file frame. For example,
wb <- loadWorkbook("D:/stat/sta-654/Hald.xlsx") df <- readWorksheet(wb, sheet = 1)
The readxl
package can also be used to read MS-Excel files more easily.
library(readxl) df <- read_excel("Data file with path")
Note that the MS-Excel files with extension *.xls
, or *.xlsx can be specified. The sheet argument can also be added, just like with the XLSconnect
package.
Read SPSS Data Files
To read the SPSS files install foreign
package. After loading the foreign
package, the read.spss( )
function can be used to load an SPSS data file in R. For example,
library(foreign) mydata <- read.spss ("SPSS data file with path", to.data.frame = TRUE)
The argument to.data.frame is set to TRUE
so that the data displayed in a data frame format. Since SPSS data file contain value label, and if you do not want the variables with value labels to be converted into R factors with corresponding levels, setuse.value.labels = FALSE
. For example,
library(foreign) mydata <- read.spss("SPSS data file with path", to.data.frame = TRUE, use.value.labels = FALSE)
Reading STATA Data Files
To import Stata files the read.dta( )
function from foreign
package can be used. For example,
library(foreign) mydata <- read.dta("STATA file with path")
Reading SAS Data Files
The read.sas7bdat( )
function from sas7bdat
package can be used to read SAS data files into R.
library(sas7bdat) mydata <- read.sas7bdat("SAS data file with path")
Reading Minitab Data File
Minitab data files can be imported in R using read.mtp( )
function from foreign
package.
library(foreign) mydata <- read.mtp("Minitab data file with path")
Reading RDA or RData Files
The R data files RDA and RData files can be easily read using load( )
function.
load("filename.RDA")